tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48079715528562011552024-02-07T04:24:00.727-05:00Ponderings From The Bubbledolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-48522726425659261432010-08-17T18:59:00.003-04:002010-08-17T19:25:50.062-04:00Ecuador Day 16: The Fourth Day of ClassesToday has been a very long day. We had to be at the Seminary by 9:00 because Karen had a meeting and Cindy had to meet with a couple of students in the class. I spent the time going through a large stack of books for the seminary library that needed call numbers looked up for them. I made a spread sheet of all of the books I needed to look up so I could actually look them up once I had some time and access to an internet connection. There's about 60 books that will be added to the collection. Some of them looked fairly interesting. Unfortunately, I couldn't read them since my knowledge of Spanish leaves a great deal to be desired.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfW-aSbDCDn1tlGPaJCh-TkBxAheWtb7qK9OUg7rf80AsVgnaeDJD6o-VxjwlVh9HFT9v0Ll3IWvGV7WgPutnZ_TbtQKhFFklLviTaRphx9X7D8NrUjZCmNVmyT6ReecuS0bjGh26Bx-w/s1600/IMG_5961.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfW-aSbDCDn1tlGPaJCh-TkBxAheWtb7qK9OUg7rf80AsVgnaeDJD6o-VxjwlVh9HFT9v0Ll3IWvGV7WgPutnZ_TbtQKhFFklLviTaRphx9X7D8NrUjZCmNVmyT6ReecuS0bjGh26Bx-w/s320/IMG_5961.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506520227811535410" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Jon Lambert grading homework<br /></span></div><br />Once I had plowed through all of the books, I finished re-reading over the material I was planning to teach today. This has been the first time that I've had to write new lectures for every class time. At the museum and at the zoo, I had a limited amount of material I could teach. That's because there's only so many science demonstration we could do at the museum, and there's only so many animals in the education collection at the zoo. Granted, I was continually teaching different programs, but they were mainly variations on a theme. It's been fun to research different topics and then be able to teach on them. There's certainly more variety this way. It's also a much more work. I'm just thankful I've had good classes on the subjects I'm teaching, and have good written resources to consult. It's made the going much easier.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbjDBacorQYjeFMvCrupxUZ-0Ki1FHgkAiYpCRzRId0ROWoFek_qrhHmGLkuPRbWgREIfbYTDw5IGT4wUXJhItzEAYfW0pasGrXTI5PtrfrwH3CbnZDeUXY4gpE1YgnxUPW4k__5qo_w/s1600/IMG_5952.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPbjDBacorQYjeFMvCrupxUZ-0Ki1FHgkAiYpCRzRId0ROWoFek_qrhHmGLkuPRbWgREIfbYTDw5IGT4wUXJhItzEAYfW0pasGrXTI5PtrfrwH3CbnZDeUXY4gpE1YgnxUPW4k__5qo_w/s320/IMG_5952.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506520249927196082" border="0" /></a><br />After this, I still had some time to kill, so I went downstairs to see how Cindy and her shoe sorting were going.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ER1YTuuKtvP-eu_6FEJPPCo-Y75xxjJujtEGCbMEfvr7XLJ4_cHGaYlgb9WfB4oOOj5mJ8APfVr2-DaaVKQrS9m7-liSm4j-df9_24hxrNCYFQ-ZsJmCGql9QzqL1957CPqDGqlEqT0/s1600/IMG_5947.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ER1YTuuKtvP-eu_6FEJPPCo-Y75xxjJujtEGCbMEfvr7XLJ4_cHGaYlgb9WfB4oOOj5mJ8APfVr2-DaaVKQrS9m7-liSm4j-df9_24hxrNCYFQ-ZsJmCGql9QzqL1957CPqDGqlEqT0/s320/IMG_5947.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506520243369334258" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Mariano, one of our students. This man truly has a servant's heart<br /><br /></span></div> Last week, we had picked up the 346 pairs of shoes she had raised the money to purchase.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXA0iK7z-fAx6ayGmBzP24sfzrHI1JpeurnLOouINW5nxFbU43JkSpFqs4zidVdlCg1Xcn5C9f232IoH0dG8wnw8TkLPsG2Ouz_9NyuUAjOHPBddMqVKxynCHyior0T0qssomc_yQ6Jqk/s1600/IMG_5945.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXA0iK7z-fAx6ayGmBzP24sfzrHI1JpeurnLOouINW5nxFbU43JkSpFqs4zidVdlCg1Xcn5C9f232IoH0dG8wnw8TkLPsG2Ouz_9NyuUAjOHPBddMqVKxynCHyior0T0qssomc_yQ6Jqk/s320/IMG_5945.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506520232623399010" border="0" /></a>Karen had put together a list of how many pairs of shoes we would be sending to each church, so now the shoes needed to be sorted by size and then by church. This took Cindy, Mariano, and Rodrigo more than an hour to do. I was quite impressed at how quickly they had accomplished their task.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIhiV5wVGsiQtAlCe7n_1xCKqTcLF5VuGDwtFyRYTiFNXIM-BVtmlq9KZcyfymmgtJXp4zgd0p5aJtS06lXoVGISBMPFdLDH2psROyrf9pJiPl7GB6ml8X_vsg2AdeAF9rQLnd6pQ3fWc/s1600/IMG_5936.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIhiV5wVGsiQtAlCe7n_1xCKqTcLF5VuGDwtFyRYTiFNXIM-BVtmlq9KZcyfymmgtJXp4zgd0p5aJtS06lXoVGISBMPFdLDH2psROyrf9pJiPl7GB6ml8X_vsg2AdeAF9rQLnd6pQ3fWc/s320/IMG_5936.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506520230647320306" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Finally it was time to head back to the house to eat and change clothes for the upcoming classes. We ate lunch quickly enough that I even had time to take a power nap before class. I went to bed earlier last night than I had in quite a while, but I was still exhausted when I got up. I'm going to chalk it up to the thinner air up here, but that's really just an excuse. It's a good one though.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk-CEDMDThc1w6I7alQNI8aOqqfwbOCbvbmLAZLJ8bkpLSXztQSp8TBfdsF6WQ65EbbFs7qEbnf3eGnDDN7zgsN034jH39TGsSy5UHzEib4lHLHOzlvSSFSCUnBLHjnLsFReuc8ALzv60/s1600/IMG_5927.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk-CEDMDThc1w6I7alQNI8aOqqfwbOCbvbmLAZLJ8bkpLSXztQSp8TBfdsF6WQ65EbbFs7qEbnf3eGnDDN7zgsN034jH39TGsSy5UHzEib4lHLHOzlvSSFSCUnBLHjnLsFReuc8ALzv60/s320/IMG_5927.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506522334521099938" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Cindy and a giant stack of shoes<br /></span></div><br />My lecture today was on Jehovah's Witness. This is the one I was the most nervous about. The reason for this is that it is a tricky religion. They use Scripture so much, and their arguments are so polished that they can really pull you in if you're not well grounded in your own beliefs. It's not a terribly big religion here, but they're growing faster outside the US than they are in it.<br /><br />I feel like it went fairly well. The students did have a couple of questions I did not have an answer to. One student was able to answer a question because she has friends who are Jehovah's Witness and she's even been to a party they hosted. I was surprised when she said they served quite a bit of alcohol there. It did show me that they have made it here though, and that they may be growing.<br /><br />One problem I ran into today is that we've now gone through all of the material I had planned to cover, and even a bit that I hadn't. I realized during the first day of class that this might happen, so I had been looking for something to do on the last day. I found an article written by Watchtower that list six "myths" of Christianity and why Jehovah's Witnesses believe we're wrong. Luckily, they've also published it in Spanish, so we're going to go through that tomorrow and see how students would respond to this, and why they disagree with the arguments made in the article. I hope that they find it's helpful.<br /><br />I sat in on Cindy's class again tonight. She finished up talking about conflict resolution and started on addictions. This will be probably the longest section she'll teach on. It seemed to really hit a lot of the students close to home because many of them have friends and family members who are addicted to something—many to alcohol. In fact, almost every one of our pastors sitting in here were raised in a family where at least one parent was an alcoholic. It is very prevalent here. After class, Cindy spent at least 45 minutes answering questions and then talking with one student.<br /><br />During this time, I sat in the library and was reading a book on my iPod. Mariano came in and asked me about it. He knows some English, and I know a little bit of Spanish so we can communicate somewhat. We spent almost the whole time listening to music on my computer and looking at pictures of his family on his phone. We mainly listened to Fernando Ortega because he has some songs in Spanish. Mariano told me that he loves music, but he's not a fan of television. He said one of his favorite things is to sing at church. It was so sweet and interesting to see what really speaks to him. He has a son named Jericho who is just two months on. He's very cute. He also showed me pictures of his older children, two of which are attending seminary this week. I recognized them, but had not realized that they were his children. I got to see pictures of his class at school and his teachers. He's working on finishing high school. He takes classes in the evening. I really admire him for working so hard. Having his high school degree will allow him to get a better job in the construction field.<br /><br />As he was showing me pictures, he came upon quite a few pictures of work campers. He knew some of them by name, but he kept referring to everyone of them as his brother or sister. After we looked through his pictures, I checked my computer to see if I actually had any pictures of my family. Because I've only had this computer a few months and I mainly got it for travel, I haven't put many pictures on it. I did have a few pictures of my parents, sister, and nephew. Mariano took one look at a picture of my dad and got really excited. He exclaimed that this was his brother and pastor. I knew he knew who dad was, but I had been pretty sure that he had not made a connection between us. Almost everywhere we go, Jon introduces me as the son of Pastor Jim Todd. Some people make the connection, but not everyone. Once Mariano realized who my dad is, he gave me a big hug and told me to give dad his greetings.<br /><br />Spending some time talking with Mariano is definitely one of the highlights of my trip. I've been working near and with him for almost two weeks now, but this was the first time we were able to spend more than a couple of minutes communicating. He truly has a servant's heart. Serving along side him this week has truly been a pleasure. He's also been one of my biggest encourages in class this week. Even when I feel like I've given a lousy lectures, he's been encouraging.<br /><br />It was about 10:00 before we made it back to the house. We sat down to eat supper and talk for a few minutes. We ended up talking and joking for more than an hour. It was a great way to blow off some steam. We certainly need it. It has been a very busy and stressful week. I did not appreciate how much work seminary is. Granted, I only had to teach one hour and fifteen minutes today, but there was always plenty of work to keep me busy. By midnight, I could barely keep my eyes open and was ready to head to bed. Tomorrow's the last day I have to teach a class!dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-28737392807197219692010-08-17T18:57:00.000-04:002010-08-17T18:58:35.842-04:00Ecuador Day 15: Shopping in Calderon and the Third Day of ClassesWe decided to not even head to Calderon until 10:30-11:00. We all needed some time to sleep in and this was the best day for it. Besides, Calderon is pretty close by. There are some local artisans in Calderon who make things out of bread dough. The bread dough is colored with food dye or painted and then baked in an oven to harden it. Calderon is the only area that makes figurines and items quite like this.<br /><br />The shop we usually go to is owned by a Christian family. Jon and Karen have built a relationship with Raul and his wife over the years even getting a medical work camp to bring in anti-rejection medication for Raul after he had a kidney transplant and had trouble getting his medication in the right dose. Another reason to go there besides supporting a Christian family is that they give us the best price around. They treat us very fairly and no bargaining is required.<br /><br />They've created quite a few new items since the last time I was there several years ago. Their 7 year old grandson (I think) has started painting scenes on glass, firing it in a kiln, and then slumping it into molds. They pieces are really cool. One of their daughters has started making really cool stylized animals that you can hang on the wall. They've also created some new nativity sets. The last time I was here, I bought one made out of eucalyptus nuts and bread dough. This time, they also had a set made out of walnuts and bread dough. They only had one left, but the animals are really awesome. I snapped that one up. Most of their nativity sets are made in the style of the various Indian tribes here in Ecuador. I purchased one of Otavalo Indians because they were wearing blue clothing.<br /><br />I also picked up two very cool clay figurines for nearly half off. I'd been wanting to get one for quite some time, and he happened to have some nice ones in. I was pretty excited that he made me such a good deal. He was practically giving them away! By the time we finished up there, it was time for lunch.<br /><br />As luck would have it, there's a new La Tablita nearby. Tablita is a restaurant that specializes in grilled chicken, steak, pork chops, and sausages. We got two lunches for two which had some of everything, fries, and salads. With that kind of carnivore's delight in front of you, who needs salad? I had thought I was really hungry, but we still had quite a bit of food left over. I dream of the day that this restaurant comes to Wilmore. I'd eat there all the time. Plus, they're pretty affordable.<br /><br />We stopped by the house to drop off our purchases and change clothes for Seminary. Then it was time to head off to class.<br /><br />When we got to the Seminary, we found out that one of the showers had quit working. To fix it, they needed Jon to pick up some supplies at this house. Since it was about time for class to start, he asked Karen to translate for me. We started off my class today by showing a video clip of a morning prayer during a Hajj. This allowed us to cover several things with it. It showed the class what the Ka'ba looks like, it gives a perspective of just how big the Hajj is, it allows us to hear a call to prayer, and it even had English subtitles. Granted, they then had to be translated into Spanish, but it gave them an idea of what is being said in the prayer. I had assumed that we wouldn't really be able to hear anything since the speakers on my laptop are quite small and not very powerful. We decided to give it a whirl anyway, and they ended up working quite well.<br /><br />We then walked through some of the major beliefs in Islam and how and why the differ from our beliefs as Christians. I ended up quoting the Qur'an quite a bit, and that worried me as well. I didn't want them to think that I'm Muslim or that I support that religion, but I felt is was important for them to have an idea of some of what's in the Qur'an. Overall, I think it went pretty well. I also wanted to spend more time on Islam because it's not covered in the books we supplied them with. We did find some pamphlets that were about 10 pages each on Mormonism and Islam that we put up as posters so they could read it if they wanted, but it just wasn't a lot of material. I wish I could have provided them with a good book like the one I was using, but it's too expensive to buy for the whole class and I couldn't locate it in Spanish.<br /><br />This is one of the major problems here. Books here are very expensive because there are very high taxes on them. Also, many of the books for sale here are merely translations of books written in the states. To make matters worse, there were quite a lot of books at the Christian bookstore by authors such as Benny Hinn. This is not exactly someone I want to endorse to the class. The library at the seminary is pretty nice, but it's pretty lean too because good books are so hard to find. Jon has been looking at Bible software for sale here, but it's not the greatest and it's a little pricey. I did discover that Logos makes some great software in Spanish, but it's not cheap either. The nicer packages are anywhere from $250 to $500 and the few add on packs they have are about $80 each. The plus side is that for $500, you can get 350+ books on the computer. This saves a lot of space in the library, and the price per book is pretty affordable. But, that's a really steep price to pay for books that cannot be checked out by students. It has to be used in the library here. I just wish that we were able to offer the students and pastors here resources like we have at Asbury.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-30385836358659301392010-08-17T18:41:00.004-04:002010-08-17T18:54:24.298-04:00Ecuador Day 14: Mitad del Mundo (again), and the Second Day of Classes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1EeT7nufhNscckWrdqvEE1ClDic-eVDauO-ke0riawej1q4oNGZQhLaQj48Tx3bbcnilv8gDX_vV4fRwUkK257zmNz0M0XopwtqG7NMjd05NIx7UL9O4ETZm3YzPL6mK2sctPA2L1mI/s1600/IMG_5925.JPG"><br /></a><br />Today, we got to spend the morning going to Mitad del Mundo. The reason for going is that Cindy had some shopping she wanted to do, and there's a paila shop there I wanted to visit again. It was a win-win situation in my book. I was really only tagging along for the paila, but I figured that it would be fun to look around in some of the stores I hadn't gone to on my last visit. One store had a really great winter hat that's ridiculously long. I thought it was pretty fantastic, and the shop owner came down to $4.00 so I figured it was worth it. We looked around in several other shops and the only thing that really caught my eye was a three foot tall llama made out of real llama. It was really soft and awesome. I figured that it might fit in my suitcase and I could name it Rowdy. Then I realized that it had to be at least $200, or probably more. That nixed that idea.<br /><br />We then stopped at a restaurant there to get really fantastic empanadas as a snack. The bonus is that there's a music store next door to it so I popped in there while we were waiting on our food. I realize that I have very little willpower in a music store, but I did want to see what they had. I was thrilled to see that there was nothing there that I really wanted. The reason is that I already own most of the instruments they were selling. It also made me realize just how many I've purchased on previous trips.<br /><br />After empanadas, Karen and Cindy went to try to find blankets in the size Cindy really wanted. Jon and I went over to the monument to get my picture in front of it "holding" the ball that's on top. We kept hoping that Elvira and her husband would open up their shop before we left. As luck would have it, they were just opening their shop when we headed over to the paila shop. We went in and thankfully they had blankets in the size Cindy had wanted. As it turns out, they are the only shop there who still carries the smaller ones. I realized at this point how little willpower I really have. They offered the blankets at such a good price that I got one. Then Jon pointed out the really cool ponchos that they are now selling. They’re made out of llama fur and are really soft. I ended up having to get one too. Then Karen found another awesome hat that they offered to sell me for a mere $2.50. You can't say no to a deal like that. At least I can't… Thankfully I got out of there without too much damage to my wallet.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1EeT7nufhNscckWrdqvEE1ClDic-eVDauO-ke0riawej1q4oNGZQhLaQj48Tx3bbcnilv8gDX_vV4fRwUkK257zmNz0M0XopwtqG7NMjd05NIx7UL9O4ETZm3YzPL6mK2sctPA2L1mI/s1600/IMG_5925.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht1EeT7nufhNscckWrdqvEE1ClDic-eVDauO-ke0riawej1q4oNGZQhLaQj48Tx3bbcnilv8gDX_vV4fRwUkK257zmNz0M0XopwtqG7NMjd05NIx7UL9O4ETZm3YzPL6mK2sctPA2L1mI/s320/IMG_5925.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506514269104737826" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Me at the Mitad del Mundo monument<br /></span></div><br />We grabbed some paila and then headed to the house to chill for a little bit before seminary later in the day. There was even enough time for me to take a short nap before heading off to teach.<br /><br />I planned to spend the next two days talking about Islam. This is not something I had planned to teach on, but Jon said that Islam is starting to be talked about some in Ecuador and it would be helpful for the students to be aware of the basic beliefs and practices of Islam. I had planned to spend the lecture talking about the history of Islam saving the major beliefs and the 5 Pillars for tomorrow. I once again underestimated how quickly we could go through several pages of notes.<br /><br />After talking about the history of Islam, we still had 20 minutes left. Yikes! I was still finishing up my material for tomorrow, but I had already had my notes for the 5 pillars of Islam. We spent the rest of the time talking about those. As we were talking about the daily prayers and the Hajj, it occurred to me that most of the students have never seen any pictures or videos of either of these. I asked them if they'd like me to try to find a video for tomorrow of Muslims praying. They said the would, so I hunted down a video clip later in the evening. Hopefully it will go over well.<br /><br />Instead of sitting in on Cindy's class, I spent the rest of the evening in the library working on my material for the rest of the week. While I had a good idea of what I was going to talk about for the basic beliefs in Islam, I hadn't finished putting it together yet. Before I'm called a slacker, which I know I am at times, I didn't know I would be teaching on it until I'd been here several days. So really, I'd only been procrastinating for a few days. I prefer to call it ruminating…<br /><br />After classes were done for the day, we headed back to the house to eat supper, prepare for the next day, and most importantly go to bed. Seminary week is much more tiring than I had expected. On the plus side, we'll get to sleep in tomorrow because we can't go anywhere until at least 9:30 because of Pico y Placa. This is something that has been started by the government in the past few months. One day a week, you cannot drive into the city 7:30-9:30AM and 4:30-7:30PM. This is based upon the last digit of your license, and serves to reduce the number of personal vehicles driving in Quito during rush hour by 20%. While annoying at times, it really does make traffic lighter during rush hour. The worse thing about it is that the paila shop near the house closes at 7:30, which means no paila on Wednesdays. As it would so happen, the day I most want paila on seems to be Wednesdays. At least I got some at Mitad today!dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-66510766183805522002010-08-16T21:16:00.005-04:002010-08-16T22:29:51.933-04:00Ecuador Day 13: The First Day of SeminaryThe first day of class started with me getting up at 10:00. My logic was that I needed to be well rested for the day. Staying up late might be part of it too. I spent the morning going through my notes and adding some material I had been planning on tossing in for my lecture the next day. Jon and Karen got home in time for lunch. They had spent the morning matriculating more students at the Seminary, buying more books for some of the classes, and shopping for sugar.<br /><br />The government has decided that since sugar is produced in Ecuador, no imported sugar will be allowed. The amazing thing is that so much sugar is being produced here, people are only allowed to buy two bags of sugar at a time. Granted, these two bags can be 1 pound bags, 2.5 pound bags, or 4.5 pound bags. But you can only buy two of them. This is a problem because Rosario, who is cooking for the seminary, had figured up that she needed about 50 pounds of sugar. Karen's plan was to go see how much sugar she could buy at the grocery store she goes to when she buys food for the food program. She figured that if they wouldn't let her buy enough, us four gringos would just go through the line, each get two bags, put them in the car, and then go through the line again. Thankfully, one of the managers at the store greeted her warmly and instructed a staff member to get her more sugar than she thought she'd need. The seminary won't need sugar for quite a while. I just hope the manager doesn't get in trouble for selling her so much.<br /><br />After lunch, we headed up to the seminary to set up the projector in the classroom. They had some many students sign up that we realized that there would be 38 students in my class. We started rearranging desks, adding chairs, and bringing in more tables so that we could fit all of the students. We figured that if there were that many students for my class, we'd need room for at least 50 students for Cindy's class.<br /><br />I expected to be really nervous about teaching, but I actually felt pretty confidant about it. This was a surprise because I'd been pretty nervous for several weeks. Class started with Jon introducing me since many in the class had not been able to be here the night before. We then sang a song that I didn't know, and then prayed. Then it was time for lecture.<br /><br />The first religion I wanted to cover was Mormonism. The reason for teaching on Mormonism is that it is growing very quickly here. As we started discussing it, I found out that several people in the class have Mormon neighbors here in Quito. I had expected to only get through the history of the religion and maybe a few of the beliefs. After all, teaching through a translator takes at least twice as much time. I was in for a surprise, we flew through everything in just over an hour. This included taking questions from the class and assigning some homework. This was cause for some concern. Material I expected to take almost two full lectures only took one. The plus side to this is that we can cover more material than I had initially expected.<br /><br />The rest of the day was spent eating supper and then sitting in Cindy's class on communication. Her class runs 5-8:30, which is a pretty long stretch. We ended up having quite a few students from UCL come to the class. UCL is the only Evangelical seminary in the country that is recognized by the government. SETE (our seminary) is working on partnering with them so that we can offer some classes that will count towards a college theology degree for our pastors. Students from UCL were told that they could attend some of the classes here to get extra credit for their studies at UCL.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo1ESdf0Eai9ag8dfbZOHQLui8Ef5F9_jw1Ly0celF4hqsHk6vQRtyMHJHIi4Kjj7dnEolzme30EwvTlLVBnrZZemgsueFb64YvqoYpWwXSsEsjX62WzViwRHoSB6oYIQPSzAkaO8S4R8/s1600/IMG_5879.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo1ESdf0Eai9ag8dfbZOHQLui8Ef5F9_jw1Ly0celF4hqsHk6vQRtyMHJHIi4Kjj7dnEolzme30EwvTlLVBnrZZemgsueFb64YvqoYpWwXSsEsjX62WzViwRHoSB6oYIQPSzAkaO8S4R8/s320/IMG_5879.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506191502527139810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">A student from UCL helps Jon demonstrate an exercise in Cindy's class<br /></span></div><br /> We expected only a couple of students to come. We were surprised when nearly 10 students showed up. That means Cyndi has one very full class. It's just about standing room only.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8raARuXJFQflypLQ_U4WaHgmTHi3PipKB78KCJLlebySZj8hqP3UIDIxNdVaDIEsLnitbWDbP9gR9HZp1oodbeKU5D3dFaB-jHcYd_HF2XnUPVwJIWcJLW_9oEDsaRBCEtyQf4iZ6M8/s1600/IMG_5899.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ8raARuXJFQflypLQ_U4WaHgmTHi3PipKB78KCJLlebySZj8hqP3UIDIxNdVaDIEsLnitbWDbP9gR9HZp1oodbeKU5D3dFaB-jHcYd_HF2XnUPVwJIWcJLW_9oEDsaRBCEtyQf4iZ6M8/s320/IMG_5899.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506191512609512146" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Two students doing a communication exercise<br /></span></div><br />To demonstrate how difficult communication can be, Cindy had students pair up and do an exercise.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0rRdXF8abS9DXUqwEKAhGEbvccRIzjm_aWQEodMt4kT1-IHZK26EHQAXPnrGaHqUJhMLuJbsgHLfGExEPWKOipmjQEOd8qAv7GcvIpSxaJqkK2V0z32j8AAKW4B2RhlCnypWnOxEoBiI/s1600/IMG_5888.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0rRdXF8abS9DXUqwEKAhGEbvccRIzjm_aWQEodMt4kT1-IHZK26EHQAXPnrGaHqUJhMLuJbsgHLfGExEPWKOipmjQEOd8qAv7GcvIpSxaJqkK2V0z32j8AAKW4B2RhlCnypWnOxEoBiI/s320/IMG_5888.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506191508081106498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Two other students working on the exercise<br /><br /></span></div>Because it required talking, she had students spread out all over the building. This struck me as a good opportunity to walk around and get pictures of them working together. I headed up to the top floor to watch the students, and was treated to a beautiful view of Cotopaxi as the sun was setting down. I ran downstairs to grab a longer lens and snap some pictures. I suspect this is the best view of Cotopaxi I'll have all trip.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHdVf2Al4MYWe5Z3NtqgNbp2eH-k4PaQSvUIu5i3jenfVObmjfvl-P2ghKCu5Z0Y5gcHijALkBavufDgT14CDut7d2dDSp19D6c6fZCaJY-1QTjlm4j67RXeRW7MvbaxgEboTfRbu2ZU/s1600/IMG_5912.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCHdVf2Al4MYWe5Z3NtqgNbp2eH-k4PaQSvUIu5i3jenfVObmjfvl-P2ghKCu5Z0Y5gcHijALkBavufDgT14CDut7d2dDSp19D6c6fZCaJY-1QTjlm4j67RXeRW7MvbaxgEboTfRbu2ZU/s320/IMG_5912.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506191514895683794" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Cotopaxi as seen from the roof of the seminary<br /></span></div><br />After the classes were finished, we took Jenny (who is translating for Cindy) to catch a bus, and started to head home. We were bemoaning the fact that the paila shop was already closed when the Lamberts pointed out a restaurant that has really great chocolate cake. We got it to go and enjoyed cake with Danny back at the house. It was a great way to end our first day teaching at the Seminary. There's only four days to go!dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-51481105143485219652010-08-16T13:16:00.005-04:002010-08-16T13:41:27.545-04:00Ecuador Day 12: Church at Zabala and the Start of SeminaryGetting up early for church was certainly worth the effort! I had forgotten what a hugging and kissing church Zabala is. Everyone is greeted with hugs and kisses from their brothers and sisters. One young girl asked Jon if I was a pastor from the U.S. When he said I kind of was, her comment was that I must not know Spanish then. She went on to say the only languages I probably knew were English and Chinese. I was kind of hurt because I also happen to speak Pig Latin pretty well. At least I think so…<br /><br />Jenny led worship, and did a wonderful job of it. Granted, I didn't always know what was being sung, but I knew we were worshiping! As Cindy put it, we might not understand Spanish, but we knew what Jenny was saying! When we got to the preaching part of the service, I was in for a surprise. Marta talked about her journey to Zabala, and what it had come to mean to her. She then invited several different people up to talk about how they came to Zabala and how it had impacted their lives. Marta also called Jon and Karen forward to share about their history with Zabala. Many people there did not know that Jon and Karen had helped build the original church building not only before there was a congregation there, but also before they were missionaries here.<br /><br />We also saw some pictures of what had taken place in the life of the church in the past year. We saw pictures of a big baptism service that had taken place earlier in the year. They made the celebration into a weekend trip for the whole church. It looked like a great time. The youth in the church also held VBS at several of our churches outside of the city. They went to Tonsupa for one of their VBS trips. Marta said that it went so well that people in the community begged them to stay an extra week, which they did. They worked with about 70 children, many of whom do not go to that church. I'll admit that I kind of wish I could have gone with them. One reason for that, though, is that Paula and Kati are fantastic cooks. The food looked awesome! I'll admit, I really like food. But the VBS looked awesome too.<br /><br />Marta also went to Amazonas. Amazonas is a church that is south of Quito and is (as the name implies) in the Amazon jungle. The church building is so cute! It was interesting to listen to Jon and Karen's comments about the church because they've never been able to visit it. They were seeing parts of it and members of the church that they have never seen before. Part way through the slide show, Marta cut it off and told us that there were some sisters working hard upstairs to prepare some finger foods for the celebration who would like to see the pictures as well. With that said, we all headed upstairs.<br /><br />We all got upstairs to find Jenny finishing up a lesson with the younger children. They seemed to be having fun. There were benches around the perimeter of the room with the children's chairs in the center.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczCkmBd2RRzns3tMepzsKvU6FhNEw7vO41sfjl74p5jeLF5rXEGw5xiPFczREMLITj-cp9VH8Lwpb36maO7SquZ0v1pdYkCVpnY1dMkppHdbidXRJFch3pM0BVUXwfE4H8MlOFpI0Z3s/s1600/IMG_5830.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjczCkmBd2RRzns3tMepzsKvU6FhNEw7vO41sfjl74p5jeLF5rXEGw5xiPFczREMLITj-cp9VH8Lwpb36maO7SquZ0v1pdYkCVpnY1dMkppHdbidXRJFch3pM0BVUXwfE4H8MlOFpI0Z3s/s320/IMG_5830.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506062304615912098" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Some of the kids at Zabala<br /><br /></span></div>There were some tables across the front that had snacks and three cakes on them. Karen, Cindy, and I made it upstairs ahead of Jon. We tried to go sit in the back and we were quickly informed that we had to sit behind the tables at the front of the room. We were not fans of this idea, but we weren't given an option. Jon managed to sneak in and grab a seat towards the back. Then they brought the projector and computer upstairs and decided the best place to show the rest of the pictures would be at the front of the room. Since they wanted us to be able to see them, they moved us to the back. This seemed like a much better option. Or it did until they moved the tables to the back. Not only were they moved to the back, but they were placed directly in front of us again.<br /><br />I was pretty excited about the snacks on the table, but then they started bringing out potato cakes. They had cooked enough for everyone in the church to have them. Even better, they had some awesome ají to put on them.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-eg9xU_jjpp2KKfQAzrguOu_2Zd_H5lOUHXmRHlRRLtbHFQALdxuhMa22IEbQp5WkXr_BOMxn5TrRQkpCfynipNASuPZ7fns5Oaj1PQuC7LSmWI0av5LKmDl1aLIB8VzXtVvwU0s7etU/s1600/IMG_5817.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-eg9xU_jjpp2KKfQAzrguOu_2Zd_H5lOUHXmRHlRRLtbHFQALdxuhMa22IEbQp5WkXr_BOMxn5TrRQkpCfynipNASuPZ7fns5Oaj1PQuC7LSmWI0av5LKmDl1aLIB8VzXtVvwU0s7etU/s320/IMG_5817.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506062298226780434" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Yum! Ají!<br /><br /></span></div> The potato cakes had beef and vegetables in the center. They were the best ones I'd ever had. Someone also brought out a plate with several more and put them on the table in front of us. Karen told me that we might as well eat them because they wouldn’t let anyone else have them. They were for us. Well, I felt bad about it, but I figured it would be bad to let them go to waste. They also had lemonade for everyone, but they brought us a big bottle of Coke. I asked Karen about it, and she said that many work campers won't drink the lemonade in case it's unsafe to drink. I figured I'd go for the lemonade anyway because I've never had something at that church that has made me sick. They are very careful to only serve food and drinks that are safe for us.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ILq4ZKVmhwBlg95BJFRb4hrodXCwKEOEkZXCfoDEfnskAHbrzYNtdKJ_uc7AHyTjrdHuEDR3EhyphenhyphenI-DmSNees4ya1HZE_8Y4DJBO1nJwsGyJ-pSAED5pJ1XWKcwj0VlQd9qBcxscTncM/s1600/IMG_5832.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-ILq4ZKVmhwBlg95BJFRb4hrodXCwKEOEkZXCfoDEfnskAHbrzYNtdKJ_uc7AHyTjrdHuEDR3EhyphenhyphenI-DmSNees4ya1HZE_8Y4DJBO1nJwsGyJ-pSAED5pJ1XWKcwj0VlQd9qBcxscTncM/s320/IMG_5832.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506062312617949442" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Karen cuts the cakes<br /></span></div><br />The anniversary celebration lasted for about an hour, and we didn't leave church until about noon. We headed back to the house to eat lunch, but I wasn't the least bit hungry after eating at Zabala. We knew we'd have to leave for the Seminary in a few hours to get stuff ready, attend a worship service, and matriculate students. I took them time to take a nap. After all, it's Sunday afternoon, which I think is the best time to take a nap.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrUhLqQF_BIhthaS31a796lJ97abVph1Uhrqza2G4ZJ9_X1Ll0rTlQjmUqcXGu9BiZtHI6qj-h1Yaq6kC8suUSesrILB_SRvSQLcnW4H1ShHBlYqcP7TlLbH_zYQonBJGcYeABPAAVflw/s1600/IMG_5856.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrUhLqQF_BIhthaS31a796lJ97abVph1Uhrqza2G4ZJ9_X1Ll0rTlQjmUqcXGu9BiZtHI6qj-h1Yaq6kC8suUSesrILB_SRvSQLcnW4H1ShHBlYqcP7TlLbH_zYQonBJGcYeABPAAVflw/s320/IMG_5856.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506062322064689394" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Little sisters: annoying brothers all over the world<br /></span></div><br />Later in the day, we mosied over to the Seminary to get everything ready to matriculate students and give them their books and other necessary items. We did that for a little while and then headed next door for the worship service. Some of the young adults at Comite led us in praise and worship and then Jon shared about changes happening in the country that are changing the way Seminary is going to have to be structured in the future.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy2-JsMTRn28o4iTT59SATWdbJWFH7wAINv9_8aTq-dTXngsqkF6E-AiaBHLGjFmO33cS_6mpL8_15kKXvmUtOywYD4LHNXDvu930S29dd6hsxttdGw0ch6L1jwRYjf7Zq5NYwxCaUz3A/s1600/IMG_5869.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy2-JsMTRn28o4iTT59SATWdbJWFH7wAINv9_8aTq-dTXngsqkF6E-AiaBHLGjFmO33cS_6mpL8_15kKXvmUtOywYD4LHNXDvu930S29dd6hsxttdGw0ch6L1jwRYjf7Zq5NYwxCaUz3A/s320/IMG_5869.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506062326538538690" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Part of the praise band<br /><br /></span></div> He then preached about the importance of getting education to prepare ourselves for ministry. After the sermon, he introduced those of us who would be teaching class. Manuel, the pastor of Comite is teaching a class on evangelism in the morning, I am teaching a class on other religions in the afternoon, and Cindy is teaching classes in the even on communication, conflict resolution, and addictions. Jon prayed for us, and then it was back to the seminary to matriculate students.<br /><br />I was surprised at the age of many of the students. For a student to attend they must be at least 15, be actively serving in a church, and have the signature of their pastor. Many of the students are teenagers. The youngest is actually 14, but she's one of the most mature students here. Almost every student who signed up tonight are teenagers. We were told that there would be more students registering the next evening just for Cindy's classes at night. The reason for this is that they have to work during the day, but they are available to take classes in the evening. This is one of the first times, if not the first time, that there have been night classes. The hope is that they will be popular with those who work during the day but could attend at night if classes are offered.<br /><br />After we finished up at the Seminary, we headed back to the house to get a bit of food and start thinking about bed. Because my class isn't until 2:45, Cindy and I don't have to be at the Seminary until around 2:00. This means sleeping in and study are both called for in the morning.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-76834691372629123352010-08-16T13:04:00.003-04:002010-08-16T13:13:34.049-04:00Ecuador Day 11: Meeting and More ShoesThe past few days have been very busy. Saturday started off with the National Committee<span style=""> </span>meeting at their office at the seminary. It was great to meet many of the pastors. Some of them I'd only met once or twice several years ago, and some of them I'd never even seen before. The Lamberts translated for us some, and I was able to pick up enough on my own to at least have an idea of what was going on.<span style=""> </span>It was a meeting though, which means it can only stay interesting for so long.<br /><p face=""" size="12pt" style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">We had planned to go back to the house to grab some food before picking up the shoes for Hands 4 Ecuador's Happy Feet program, but the National Committee had other plans. They decided to treat everyone at the meeting to lunch down the street. I'm still not sure where the money came from, but the food was very good. We went to a small restaurant that is close to the Seminary. The food was roast chicken, rice with beans (can't remember what the dish is called), french fries, and cole slaw. It was a neat experience. I'd wanted to eat at a place like that for quite a while, so it was nice to finally do that.</p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">With lunch out of the way, we headed off to the shoe store to pick up 300 pairs of shoes. Mariano went with us to help us load and unload them as well as get a truck for us. I would say that it took longer than I expected to get the shoes, but that would be a lie. At this point, I'm getting pretty used to the concept of Ecuadorian time. While we were waiting, we found some more shoes on sail, so Karen and Cindy picked out another 14 pairs of shoes bringing the total to, I think, 344 pairs. One interesting thing we noted was that the price tag on last years shoes were $26. The same shoes this year cost $36. That's a huge increase in just one year! Because of the increased price of shoes, school has just gotten much more expensive for families, and it makes it much harder for many families to send their kids to school. </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">The best part of dropping the shoes off at the Seminary was that we planned to get paila afterward. Have I mentioned how much I love paila? It's pretty awesome stuff! </p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqdc9ZkuruanP1tEAdYQZ3pIhqWqS41H_dFenEYXiQ1jnMnXC3F-vsjnlxuEt-OKxpOyx8L0O-l3tIW-Cw2WKeTHK89q29-J5QqDUy2IQRAZKhzcxfVj26GY9HoW-svJQjQmRjqleAC8/s1600/IMG_5802.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQqdc9ZkuruanP1tEAdYQZ3pIhqWqS41H_dFenEYXiQ1jnMnXC3F-vsjnlxuEt-OKxpOyx8L0O-l3tIW-Cw2WKeTHK89q29-J5QqDUy2IQRAZKhzcxfVj26GY9HoW-svJQjQmRjqleAC8/s320/IMG_5802.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506055924545724738" border="0" /></a></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Jon and Cindy showing off their paila</span></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">We took Mariano with us to help thank him for all of his hard work. He said he'd only had paila once while he was in the military. I think he's as big a fan of it as I am!</p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6sna-nqZmI07gm7gNpmIZvfXuaX8scBBQJcK0UNS2T8q5pl1y4vb1j3xz5yoeREK_vmiCmcn4ygk-UuD_fKw99mkKx7ktQ-Vk-2uUyuMxFVb2zfTozoE6Ll7FlhAG6SA-vkV_rjnk5s/s1600/IMG_5807.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji6sna-nqZmI07gm7gNpmIZvfXuaX8scBBQJcK0UNS2T8q5pl1y4vb1j3xz5yoeREK_vmiCmcn4ygk-UuD_fKw99mkKx7ktQ-Vk-2uUyuMxFVb2zfTozoE6Ll7FlhAG6SA-vkV_rjnk5s/s320/IMG_5807.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5506055932344737362" border="0" /></a></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mariano and his delicious paila</span></p><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;">We spent the rest of the day at the house working on our lessons for seminary and just relaxing a little bit. We knew that Sunday would be a long day. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, we didn't need to go to Ofelia for church so we discussed where we'd like to go. We decided on Zabala once we realized that it would be their anniversary celebration. The downside was that the service starts at 8:30 so we'd need to leave by 8:00. Oh well, I figured it'd be worth it.<br /></div><p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;"> </p>dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-90073247208615148192010-08-06T18:24:00.003-04:002010-08-06T18:35:11.213-04:00Ecuador Days 8, 9, and 10: Shoes, Seminary, and CevicheIt's been several days since I posted partly because we've been somewhat busy, but I haven't had a great deal to post. Part of the reason for this is that a family that is moving from Quito to Orlando stayed with us for several days. The husband is from Ecuador and the wife is from Illinois. Their kids, while American citizens, have grown up in Quito and are essentially Ecuadorian. They owned a hair salon here catering mainly to Americans. As Americans have left the country due to the government here being less friendly to Americans and American business, their business has declined. Because of this, they've felt that moving back to the United States is a better option for them and their family. It's been interesting seeing the family saying their goodbyes to friends and family here while preparing to transition to life in another country. Their kids were asking me lots of questions about what it's like to live in America and what Orlando is like. While they've travel to the US some to visit family, they've never spent a significant amount of time there. To make matters even tougher, they are not Christians. They Lamberts have spent years developing a relationship with them, but they have not been terribly open to Christ. My prayers go out for them during this time of transition that they not only find Christ, but that they find a place to settle and jobs.<br /><br />Their last night here, we all went to a restaurant called La Ronda. La Ronda is a restaurant that serves traditional Ecuadorian food. <a href="http://south-american-food.suite101.com/article.cfm/ecuadorian_food_main_dishes">Fritada </a>is one of their specialties as well as a very traditional Ecuadorian dish. I decided to order that and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Fritada is a dish that is made of pork that has been boiled and then fried. It was served with fried bananas, a type of corn cake, and hominy. I've had hominy multiple times, and have never been a fan until this time. It was pretty fantastic. My only complaint about it was that it had quite a bit of cilantro on it and I'm not the biggest fan of cilantro. Over all though, I was a big fan of the food. I would eat there again in a heartbeat!<br /><br />The best part of the restaurant was the live music. They had a group of six men who went table to table playing traditional Andean music. They were all dressed in matching ponchos and hats, and played quite a variety of instruments. They had guys playing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quena">quenas</a>, pan flutes, guitars, drums, and even a charango. One of the guys who played the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charango">charango </a>played it the fastest I've ever seen. It was truly impressive. They were not the only life music though. There was also a group of three guys who played Spanish guitar and sang ballads. They were quite excellent as well. It was a truly enjoyable experience.<br /><br />The next day (Wednesday) after the families departure to the airport, we headed out to run errands. Our first stop was at a shoe store to price out school shoes. <a href="http://hands4ecuador.com/">Hands for Ecuador</a> has been raising the money to buy school shoes for children in the churches here. They had hoped to raise enough money to buy 220 pairs of shoes. Cindy called a couple of days before to tell us that they had managed to raise more than $5,300. With this number in mind, we set off to see how many shoes could be bought with this money and to put a deposit down. After picking out styles for both younger and older boys and girls as well as sizes, one of the salespeople set off to see how much 200 pairs would cost. He came back 15-20 minutes later with the quote, and we realized we could buy at least another hundred pairs. The salesman went off and came back a few minutes later with his total. 305 pairs of shoes came out to just under $5000. This meant that we still had $300 left to spend. While he had been putting together the quote, we had been looking around the shoe store and found some really awesome shoes that looked like Chuck Taylors and had dinosaurs all over them. I'm still kind of wanting them… Anywho, we also found a clearance rack with some shoes from last year. All of them were 50% off. Karen told the guy to get us every pair he could find as long as the total was under $300. Several minutes later, we were walking to the register with another 30 pairs of school shoes, the most expensive of which was $10. Keep in mind that all of these shoes are made of leather and are pretty good quality. Karen paid for the shoes and then put down a deposit on the rest of the shoes. The salesman seemed pretty excited for his sale and event through in 200 plastic rulers with the Bunky logo (the shoe manufacture) on them. We'll had back tomorrow to pick up the other 305 pairs of shoes.<br /><br />After that, we grabbed lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then headed to the Seminary so Jon could attend a short meeting. While he did that, I helped Karen go through all of the Children of Promise files to look up the birth dates of all of the children in the program. I enjoyed getting to see all of their pictures and hearing about some of them. Some of them, like the kids at Meridiano, have grown up a great deal since I last saw them nearly 8 years ago. It was also a good time to learn more at the Children of Promise program. I didn't realize just how little I knew about it.<br /><br />After Jon's meeting, we headed back to the house. They worked in the office some and I studied some for my upcoming classes. I might have read a little bit of Harry Potter as well. Ok, I read a little bit of Harry Potter. After Danny got home from working at the hospital, we had supper. As we were finishing up, Jon was commenting about how nice it would be to have some paila for dessert. Sadly, there was no place to get paila nearby, or so we thought. Danny told us there was a place only a few minutes away that looked pretty good. That was enough for us. We grabbed our shoes, jumped in the car, and were off with Danny at the wheel. As we got there, the owners were just leaving the shop and were in the process of locking the doors. We inquired about their hours, and it turns out they close at 7:30 and we had gotten there at 7:35. They then told us we'd be welcome to still come in and get some if we'd like. They had a ton of flavors to pick from. I ended up getting a scoop of <a href="http://south-american-food.suite101.com/article.cfm/exotic_fruits_of_ecuador_juice">taxo </a>and a scoop of <a href="http://south-american-food.suite101.com/article.cfm/exotic_fruits_of_ecuador_juice">guanábana </a>served in a tulipan. A tulipan is an edible ice cream bowl that looks a little bit like a tulip. All I can say about the paila was that it was absolutely delicious. It wasn't as pretty as the one I had at Mitad del Mundo, and didn't have all of the extras on it, but it didn't need it. I suspect I will be getting paila there at least another couple of times before I leave Ecuador.<br /><br />On Thursday, Jon and I started off the morning by heading to the Seminary to drop a hand truck off so that Mariano could go get the gas cylinders filled for the kitchen at the seminary. Mariano is the man who was stabbed, thrown off a cliff, and left to die several years ago. I've only met him briefly before now. Our next stop was <a href="http://www.supermaxi.com/web/cms.php?c=613">Mega Kywi</a>. Mega Kywi is the largest hardware store in the city. It may be the largest in the country (Jon isn't sure if the one in Guayaquil is bigger).<br /> <br />Mega Kywi is a lot like a Home Depot or a Lowes. They have just about everything you could need ranging from desk to plants to mowers to hardware. The biggest difference between Mega Kywi and hardware stores in the US is the prices. Many items such as lawnmowers are much more expensive here than they are at home. Karen pointed out to me later that while the prices may be significantly higher, at least you can get all of these things now. In the past, it was almost impossible to get much of what Mega Kywi carries. On the way back to the car, we stopped by a little stand that had really great vanilla cake donuts. Jon knows of all the best food places around!<br /><br />After our trip to the store, we headed back to the Seminary to drop stuff off. We had purchased a desk and a file cabinet for the office, so we left those with Mariano to put together. Then we headed home for lunch, and what a lunch it was! Karen had cooked <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceviche">ceviche </a>for lunch. Ceviche is a traditional Ecuadorian soup that is served cold. Karen made ceviche that was tomato based with shrimp and chochos in it. Chochos are a type of bean that you can only get here. It was very, very good.<br /><br />After lunch, we headed back to the Seminary so that Jon could meet with some installers who are putting in internet at the Seminary. The internet they're getting is the cheapest available. It's 256K and cost $80/month! It's still cheaper than the other option which was a blazing 512K and cost a mere $175 a month. When the told me the cost of the more expensive one, I about fell over. That just seems like highway robbery to me. <br /><br />Once we were done with the installers, we headed to Santa Clara to hit up the market to buy some pots and pans for the seminary. Some of the cooking utensils have a habit of walking off, and some larger pots and pans were needed so that the cooks can prepare food for more than 40 people. We went to three different shops to compare prices and ended up getting some stuff at each one. With that out of the way, we headed to Bosque, one of the malls in the area. We went to a computer store first to purchase an ethernet cable for the Seminary. I was expecting it to be really expensive, but a 10 foot cable was only $4. It turns out that the cable is imported, but is not considered a luxury item. Because of that, computer cables can be made here very cheaply. While Jon was buying the cable, Karen noticed a rack of jackets on sale for $10 a piece. She looked at all of them and mentioned that they'd make great Christmas presents for some of the older girls in Children of Promise. She ended up picking out 10 of them. It was fun helping play Santa for some of the kids. We're hoping to hit up the Christian bookstore soon to pick up presents for the rest of the children while the store still has some good stuff in. We then ate dinner at the food court in the mall.<br /><br />We ate supper in front of some big windows that face out over part of Quito as well as the airport. As the sun went down, we noticed that one of the valleys out past the airport was positively glowing. Over the next 15 or so minutes, we watched the light creep up the side of the mountains. The light turned everything gold and it cast deep shadows helping to see the topography of the land. Sadly, the show was over pretty quickly. The sun sets and rises incredibly fast here on the equator. Once we were done eating, we wandered into a movie store for a few minutes. They sell DVDs for $2.50 each, and have tons of them. They also sell games for computers and many gaming systems (also for $2.50). You can guess where the DVDs come from. It seemed funny to me to see two such stores in one mall. <br /><br />Once we were finished at the mall, we headed back to the house for the evening. I worked a little bit on stuff for my classes and then played on the computer some. We had hoped to get some paila, but were not able to make it to the shop before they were closed. Maybe next time…<br /><br />Today, I've just hung around the house reading for school and for fun and worked on finishing up my lectures. I also did some laundry while I had the chance because life starts getting much busier tomorrow.<br /><br />Tomorrow is the meeting of the National Committee. We also need to run pick up the rest of the shoes, all 305 pairs of them. Sunday, we're going to church at Ofelia where Jon will preach both services. Then we have to go to the Seminary to register people for the week and then have a worship service for the seminary tomorrow night at Comite. Classes begin on Monday and run through the rest of the week. It's going to be an adventure!dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-20185471172928478162010-08-02T19:27:00.004-04:002010-08-02T19:54:02.189-04:00Ecuador Day 5: Church at OfeliaYesterday, we went to church at Ofelia. Ofelia is pastored by Milton Vidal and his wife Lilly. Ofelia is a church of about 200, and they meet in a very small building. In fact the building is small enough that they now have two services on Sunday. During the sermon portion of the service, the children and youth all meet in Sunday School classes. Since there are two services, the Sunday School teachers teach twice on Sunday. Not only is the sanctuary small, but the only other room in there besides the bathroom is quite tiny. It's located behind the platform and the youngest children have Sunday School in there. The older children and youth meet either on the sidewalk or at one of the nearby houses. That's right, there's one class that has to meet on the sidewalk and street because there's not enough room anywhere else. It's incredible.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwN45vX6JUnUiXPeYG75nyGnmo449Dlmv66TDjUjzmWMEj-9nQE3jDbSzcwFKmh4j6PxApnL9EQhdOUXH6nH3I1Y736Tq4Kfd3h23nlsczIfgc9LOf5DnErbYYSCja-DnF2tGlClpaSlk/s1600/IMG_5535.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwN45vX6JUnUiXPeYG75nyGnmo449Dlmv66TDjUjzmWMEj-9nQE3jDbSzcwFKmh4j6PxApnL9EQhdOUXH6nH3I1Y736Tq4Kfd3h23nlsczIfgc9LOf5DnErbYYSCja-DnF2tGlClpaSlk/s320/IMG_5535.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500961162680963986" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">A young boy who's family is new to the church<br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwN45vX6JUnUiXPeYG75nyGnmo449Dlmv66TDjUjzmWMEj-9nQE3jDbSzcwFKmh4j6PxApnL9EQhdOUXH6nH3I1Y736Tq4Kfd3h23nlsczIfgc9LOf5DnErbYYSCja-DnF2tGlClpaSlk/s1600/IMG_5535.JPG"><br /></a><br /><br />Jon and Karen had told me that they were going to be baptizing some people at the end of the service, and that it would be quite a party. Because of the baptism, the church had decided to combine services for the day so everyone could come. I was wondering how crowded to be, but it was actually a lower attendance than I would have expected owing to the fact that it was a holiday weekend. It was still a big crowd though.<br /><br />Pastor Milton greeted us as we walked into the church and Jon introduced me and explained why I was here. One of his first responses when he found out I speak virtually no Spanish is that I need to learn Spanish. This is becoming a constant refrain. I wish I'd been able to put in much more time to learning the language beyond what I already knew. I guess I know what I'll be doing when I get back. Not a day is going by that I wish I didn't know the language better. At least I can pick out important words like baño and queso!<br /><br />One of the first things I noticed when I walked into the building was the large inflatable kiddy pool. Pastor Milton came up with the idea a while back. A bonus to it is that it allows them to do full immersion baptisms inside the building. Several of the kids seemed very interested in it. Who can blame them, I've always wanted to do a cannon ball into a baptistery.<br /><br />Something else I noticed very quickly was the number of men there. There are typically not that many men in our other churches. Many of the pastors say that they can win the women to Christ, but the men will take a long time. Pastor Milton doesn't subscribe to this idea. He's not scared to go out after them, and it has been quite effective.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWOa-OKy45oEzCqftZvljiBNSRD6M-80t02YGckCF4E5eQeo1EGao5lAHb-ExCm8r-AinQUQ1vWeytJEVbE4FStDQ7_oxRkd6uucdalIz_f2OMmXNEE9xSo_xtFylD2YoALqq4Z6KoEk/s1600/IMG_5442.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmWOa-OKy45oEzCqftZvljiBNSRD6M-80t02YGckCF4E5eQeo1EGao5lAHb-ExCm8r-AinQUQ1vWeytJEVbE4FStDQ7_oxRkd6uucdalIz_f2OMmXNEE9xSo_xtFylD2YoALqq4Z6KoEk/s320/IMG_5442.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500961157622935762" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Pastor Milton standing during the service</span></div><br />I should also probably mention a little bit about Milton. His goal when he was younger was to be the leader of the most feared gang in Ecuador. He and his gang sold drugs and would go kill people for virtually anything. They particularly went after homosexuals and cab drivers for their money. He was caught, convicted of 14 murders, and sent to maximum security prison. He says that he has no idea how many people he killed or helped kill, but it was a large number. While in prison, he heard about a group of pretty women who would come to sing and share about Jesus. He went because of the pretty women. Through this he not only became saved, but he met his wife Lilly who was one of the women. He started leading others to Christ and was soon ministering to many in prison. A panel of 12 judges met to consider letting him out of prison early. Their vote had to be unanimous, and it was. He got out of prison and started to witness to other ex-cons. This is how the church started. Some of the men in the church today are ex-cons who came to know Christ either in prison or afterwards because of Pastor Milton. This man is fearless when it comes to witnessing. I'll talk more about it later.<br /><br />The service started out with a beautiful prayer from Milton. At least that's how it seemed to me. I only caught words and phrases of it. It was certainly heartfelt though. Then the praise team kicked it off with a fairly rousing song. It's actually a praise and worship song I've sang in the States, but I don't remember the title off of the top of my head. They sang a couple of other songs were one's I've heard as well, but I didn't remember most of the lyrics. They also sang several songs I'd never heard before. For those, Karen would translate them for me so I had a good idea what was being sung. Even for the songs I didn't know, it was a very energetic and worshipful experience. The leader of the praise team was Lilly, Milton's wife.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQy78tVKHEze-eEYAGhfiKEuAEI6bS0j3HVq6KkXsw8HkpVi9fmhYzzzo6-T7Ns1egwmLtxj-tE7wLidFHZXsbPZpr2kzO0ys3rUCoEJTHplf7Hu5RKXbutQqIQdR5Pa3va38ZJEYuZE/s1600/IMG_5436.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwQy78tVKHEze-eEYAGhfiKEuAEI6bS0j3HVq6KkXsw8HkpVi9fmhYzzzo6-T7Ns1egwmLtxj-tE7wLidFHZXsbPZpr2kzO0ys3rUCoEJTHplf7Hu5RKXbutQqIQdR5Pa3va38ZJEYuZE/s320/IMG_5436.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500961148158068482" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Lilly, dressed in a green shirt, leading worship</span></div><br />There was a drummer from Haiti and two guys playing guitars—one acoustic and one electric. There were several other singers as well. Most of the songs were about the power of God. They talked about how He has been victorious over Satan and how we need not fear with God on our side. They also talked about how God knows our needs and sees our fears, and how He will continue to care for us. These are a poor summary of the main themes, but it gives a good idea.<br /><br />During the singing part of the service, and elderly couple came in and sat beside me. The woman was very short and had trouble walking, and the man had hearing aids and seemed to get around a bit better. Karen leaned over to me and explained that they are 87 years old, and newlyweds who have been married for about a year. They live in the area, and had never gotten married. The reason for this is that to be married in a church is very expensive because tradition means that you have to have a large dinner for the families and the church. When the church found out about them, they went and witnessed to them and got them saved and coming to church. Then they raised the money so that they could have a wedding. Different people cooked food, made the wedding cake, and even bought the blushing bride a dress. Karen said it was a beautiful sight and that they were so cute during the wedding. I tried to get a picture of them together, but they switched places before I could snap one. Consequently, you can mainly see the husband. The little bit of gray hair in the background is his bride.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSRBNsem_2ncjwnCnOQ8EuBFf0kK_LPetGhqnOH6ICtK2_W2Yg_xN5dHlT6ih8MEr9_ItPFPf-ABUecoMaerRDHa_8o_7xdEDtYCnrNvywyzsW6z7_AiaMu1InLq3eQkDGf4J5O4aeIo/s1600/IMG_5564.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwSRBNsem_2ncjwnCnOQ8EuBFf0kK_LPetGhqnOH6ICtK2_W2Yg_xN5dHlT6ih8MEr9_ItPFPf-ABUecoMaerRDHa_8o_7xdEDtYCnrNvywyzsW6z7_AiaMu1InLq3eQkDGf4J5O4aeIo/s320/IMG_5564.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500961171108752162" border="0" /></a><br />After a fairly lengthy praise time (which left me exhausted!), we moved to the sermon. As the children were heading to Sunday School, I realized just how many were there. There were far more than I had realized. Pastor Milton preached a dynamic sermon that covered quite a bit of ground. He talked about the power of God, and how with God nothing is impossible. A major prayer of his is to find some property where a larger church can be built so they can have more room to grow. He was praying for a building large enough for 500. Then he said God told him, "Why not 1000, or 12000!." I hear this from some pastors and just shake my head. With Pastor Milton, however, I was right behind him. I can believe it. He also said it's ridiculous that thousands will gather to hear a foreigner share about Jesus. He pointed out that everyone should be willing to witness and support their brothers and sisters. There's no reason thousands cant be lead to Christ by other Ecuadorians.<br /><br />As an example of this, he talked about how he recently was able to preach to 80 people who were not Christians. I was wondering how this came about. It turns out the Lamberts wondered too, so they asked him after the service. He said that a woman in the church who lost her husband a year ago was approached by the husband's family about having a Mass for him on the anniversary of his death. His entire family is Catholic, but she and her husband are Christian. She didn't like this idea, so she talked to Pastor Milton about it. He suggested that they have a service at the church instead. She was not terribly enthusiastic about the idea at first, but she agreed in the end. They gathered pictures of her husband, and they put together a PowerPoint presentation of lots of pictures of him. They started the service with that to get everyone nice and emotional. Once that was over with, Pastor Milton started preaching to them. When he asked if there was anyone who didn't know Christ but wanted to, several raised their hand. Talk about being creative! None of these 80 had ever set foot in an Evangelical church before, and here they were listening to a sermon! This is a congregation that is certainly growing!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1s3eXLOp_4et4JfBAc94oatxxxBntWQHO-bG3I-u-pb7U1FbRRPLer0qWTr4jmdlLPEazawveUy3u3WHyvaXlnSqu0yA1ZUoHRD0AZRwu4qYPAmCbbbdsPBzbnQrYbxun2R0r5J5G_vk/s1600/IMG_5460.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1s3eXLOp_4et4JfBAc94oatxxxBntWQHO-bG3I-u-pb7U1FbRRPLer0qWTr4jmdlLPEazawveUy3u3WHyvaXlnSqu0yA1ZUoHRD0AZRwu4qYPAmCbbbdsPBzbnQrYbxun2R0r5J5G_vk/s320/IMG_5460.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500964129779999394" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Danny, a four year old boy who was in Karen's VBS class</span><br /><br /></div>After the sermon on Sunday, we transitioned to the baptisms. Just 2-3 months ago, they baptized 11 people. The fact that they were having more people wanting to be baptized was quite exciting. Most churches here will wait for Jon and Karen to be available for them to do something like a baptism. This is not the case at Ofelia. They plan the service and notify the Lamberts that it will be taking place. They're welcome to come, but it's going to happen whether they can be there or not. Pastor Milton is willing to take initiative, and that's one of the reasons the church is growing so quickly.<br /><br />Pastor Milton was particularly excited because they would be baptizing three couples. He's always excited to baptize a man or a couple because it means the men are making a major change in their life. Many men here treat their wives terribly. This is not acceptable for men in the church and it means that the family will be far better for it. Additionally, everyone who is baptized must take classes first. This is because virtually none of them have grown up in the church, and they don't fully understand the meaning of baptism. The also must be able to write and verbally give their testimony before they are baptized. They share their testimony in front of the congregation just before they are baptized.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNDQSeh3RSK6_xjubl58-mqjFDkXNda5YBzJYGiwe5aHHW_k8PuwkBFWLqxn98lGMjVEyNlWKB6-uPLsqOLcYablo78XOSpVISEMNIuPFi_JKt6WjC8b7VKdPeUnIEtTme_G-fjdfJz3Q/s1600/IMG_5547.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNDQSeh3RSK6_xjubl58-mqjFDkXNda5YBzJYGiwe5aHHW_k8PuwkBFWLqxn98lGMjVEyNlWKB6-uPLsqOLcYablo78XOSpVISEMNIuPFi_JKt6WjC8b7VKdPeUnIEtTme_G-fjdfJz3Q/s320/IMG_5547.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500964125293185234" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Before the baptisms started, Pastor Milton prayed for all of the couples. He then prayed for all of those whose spouses were not yet Christians and baptized praying that they would become saved soon. Then it was onto the baptisms. He invited Jon and Karen to come up to the front so that they could pray with each individual after the were baptized. This was the first time he did not ask Jon to assist him with the baptisms. Rather, he had another man in the church assist him. It was exciting to see him utilizing leadership in the church for such a joyous occasion.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGWAYH9rMhyJnWWAYzVwVF_-f5yySk_np4KCF0ABIhE-wWFak3xxl6SkwWKQwPkZxK5bnDc5cTk-WfTiJOuvTB5GJeRTEa_1IWXNiEjeGApd2GjjkhfN3IaNfI0NXWMIcY0Ov5cV5Nyg/s1600/IMG_5524.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTGWAYH9rMhyJnWWAYzVwVF_-f5yySk_np4KCF0ABIhE-wWFak3xxl6SkwWKQwPkZxK5bnDc5cTk-WfTiJOuvTB5GJeRTEa_1IWXNiEjeGApd2GjjkhfN3IaNfI0NXWMIcY0Ov5cV5Nyg/s320/IMG_5524.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500964142372201346" border="0" /></a><br />They started with the couples. Each couple was brought forward and he introduced them. Then each one shared their testimony and was baptized. Just as Pastor Milton went to dunk them, the praise band kicked it into high gear and led the congregation in yet another rousing song. The convert stood there until the end of the song at which point they stepped out of the water and hugged Pastor Milton. They then went to the Lamberts to have them pray with them. This continued until all 11 had been baptized. It was a service that was vastly different from any other I'd been too. In the U.S., we tend to treat baptisms as a very reverent event. At Ofelia, it's treated as a celebration. While it was very different, I really enjoyed the enthusiasm of it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKbknOS1s2TIzlcs9cwTOn_r9Oy4B69IAbRVLBKcDD996tHwD7twYFK5IZuqhP9yqtdQG-YyPTiUkdfzbjZtjqaM13cbqJxTo_1tYAYpSx765n5LfYvaDHruaIF1dhUM1-Rm5E6NDzkA/s1600/IMG_5560.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkKbknOS1s2TIzlcs9cwTOn_r9Oy4B69IAbRVLBKcDD996tHwD7twYFK5IZuqhP9yqtdQG-YyPTiUkdfzbjZtjqaM13cbqJxTo_1tYAYpSx765n5LfYvaDHruaIF1dhUM1-Rm5E6NDzkA/s320/IMG_5560.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500964125207524066" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Pastor Milton giving the benediction<br /><br /></span></div>By the time the service was over, it was 1:00 (we had started at 9), and I was exhausted! I feel like I had a major workout. As I was thinking about it later, I started to realize that this is how we should be. Not in form, but in spirit. Worship at Ofelia was a celebration. There was a joy in worshiping the Lord. It was not something that was done because they have to, but because they want to. And this is not the only service of the week. They meet together every morning from 6:30 to 8:30 to pray. There's services on, I think, Wednesday and Friday nights. Saturday is a night of prayer that starts at 7:30 and continues as long as they feel led. While the service starts at 7:30 on Saturday, Pastor Milton is there at 12:00 to meet with people for counseling. He's a busy man. I'm beginning to see why they need a new location to worship. The problem is that there is very little available there that would be big enough. Milton has found one piece of property that is nearly half of a block. Currently, there is an oil and lube place there along with a four story building and 3 small houses that he has managed to locate. He even dreams of using the three houses as a type of half way house to get ex-cons back on their feet. The problem is that it's on a prime piece of property. The asking price is $500,000 USD. Pastor Milton doesn’t see this as a problem at all. He says that God will provide. I pray that He will, but the price seems insurmountable at the moment. It's my prayer that God will work a miracle and allow them to purchase the property.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-53532533448404784252010-08-01T20:20:00.005-04:002010-08-01T20:46:36.400-04:00Ecuador Day 4: Rumicucho and Mitad del MundoToday was supposed to be the monthly meeting with all of the pastors, or so we thought. It turns out that July as 31 days in it, and the meeting isn't until next week. This meant that we had more free time than expected. The Lamberts had the idea of taking me to Rumicucho, which are some Inca ruins. Because it's so dry and dusty, only Jon and I went, but I was still pretty excited. I had been here about 8 years before, but a lot of excavations and reconstruction has taken place since then. You can now see quite a few foundations and get an idea for the layout of the place.<br /><br />On the way there, we drove past a Catholic church that looked like no church I had seen before. Jon explained that this is a good model of the syncretism that tends to happen here, especially in the Catholic church. As you can see in the picture, the front of the church pays honor to Jesus (observe the cross on each steeple), the sun god, mother earth, and then there's a rainbow which is from the local indigenous religion. Unfortunately, they were setting tents up outside for some big shindig so I was not able to get a picture that didn't have some glare from all of the white fabric. I found this fascinating because this is a subject I've studied a fair amount in school. It would be really interesting to observe a service there.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwz4s_JzZs9Tp1aBH8OZk_Py3_2Za-n8yokd491ZjYkOJVrspIRFwKLtxR3fl5lS6pGxLTPEWD5iXpS6wERquvNNuYWrP_OnGj6dU6i9muceScRFMf8yyGipndy7l-DuoKVyBjrkkxO5w/s1600/IMG_5393.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwz4s_JzZs9Tp1aBH8OZk_Py3_2Za-n8yokd491ZjYkOJVrspIRFwKLtxR3fl5lS6pGxLTPEWD5iXpS6wERquvNNuYWrP_OnGj6dU6i9muceScRFMf8yyGipndy7l-DuoKVyBjrkkxO5w/s320/IMG_5393.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500605817277583906" border="0" /></a><br />Our next stop was Rumicucho. This place looks very different from the first time I was there. There's now an entrance fee (very minimal), a gate house (that was not manned), a little store, sings, and marked pathways. I'm thankful I went to Israel first, because it enabled me to have a better appreciation for this site. For one thing, there were pottery shards everywhere, and I spotted many of them without any effort.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCG72FsIKSW-u2nAZaS7c8nVRHeLkRS3MEIi_s-XXRWjDu7Kjtl8n-bFQYN6bKO5elOaCjnUXMHZeRBp0r6Uue2KmxmU5_uFcWmkbyidpPJM3WFRgb1C0lqdThPHQ9lzOVamGkH6D18w/s1600/IMG_5427.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmCG72FsIKSW-u2nAZaS7c8nVRHeLkRS3MEIi_s-XXRWjDu7Kjtl8n-bFQYN6bKO5elOaCjnUXMHZeRBp0r6Uue2KmxmU5_uFcWmkbyidpPJM3WFRgb1C0lqdThPHQ9lzOVamGkH6D18w/s320/IMG_5427.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500605838006023458" border="0" /></a><br />Another reason is that it was easier to spot gates, outer walls, and storage rooms. That's right, there were rooms that most people believe were for storage right beside most of the gates. The main reason, though, is that I was able to appreciate just how important it's location, the surrounding geography, and the topography are.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVH14SDOOTutnGeINyw6CcgrrhyCvripYFXDFAhkE9Yk5_uuaL-3ebEOIwhG5ZfJgDzGyp1yUcUILQ-kDJAi1utir7pVxPIfrPknZJvAl2Z27o_YiR4nYHtMixJXD_jSJ5mXV7pSHnvW4/s1600/IMG_5407.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVH14SDOOTutnGeINyw6CcgrrhyCvripYFXDFAhkE9Yk5_uuaL-3ebEOIwhG5ZfJgDzGyp1yUcUILQ-kDJAi1utir7pVxPIfrPknZJvAl2Z27o_YiR4nYHtMixJXD_jSJ5mXV7pSHnvW4/s320/IMG_5407.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500605823986337986" border="0" /></a><br />This site is located on a hill that allows the primary entrance to Quito to be observed from all of the approaches. Not only that, but the pass that leads to the coast can also be observed from here. It is thought that it was a garrison with 300-500 soldiers living there to protect that area. More importantly, Incas were not the first people to use that area. There is evidence that people groups before them lived there as well.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM7O3onrYVcmw9hUNXZoxpv3ALRvNDoY_P14m8mDhND5AS7MCDL8QNdZbGz52w30SM_PiFtrKtNjyZ5lbYtsFAZqtexKVCZtHTnBLCkjpQBCYQFTMk8GYyhcZPB-vur_PcE7A4PrWoNKk/s1600/IMG_5409.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM7O3onrYVcmw9hUNXZoxpv3ALRvNDoY_P14m8mDhND5AS7MCDL8QNdZbGz52w30SM_PiFtrKtNjyZ5lbYtsFAZqtexKVCZtHTnBLCkjpQBCYQFTMk8GYyhcZPB-vur_PcE7A4PrWoNKk/s320/IMG_5409.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500605831414181074" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After spending a while at <a href="http://www.ecuador.com/blog/rumicucho-pucara-reminder-of-the-past">Rumicucho</a>, we made our way to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitad_del_Mundo">Mitad del Mundo</a>. The primary reason for going there is that I could knock out most of my shopping without having to go to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otavalo">Otavalo</a>. Jon took me to a shop that is owned by a Christian couple he knows. I actually went there with him on my last trip to Ecuador, but that was four years before. He introduced me to them and chatted with them for a little while. They were very friendly, and even gave us bottles of water. Besides giving my business to a Christian family that the Lamberts know, I also enjoy that shop because bargaining isn't necessary. They give us the bottom price from the get go which means that the whole process is faster. The shopping experience was a pleasure, and they had everything I had come there looking for. The only down side is that I wanted to buy more than I did. Especially the striped pants they make here. I already have at least eight pairs of them though, so I was strong. It was hard to do though, I'm not gonna lie.<br /><br />When we finished up there, Jon suggested we get ice cream. We went to a shop that has ice cream and paila. Paila is kind of the Ecuadorian answer to sorbet, but it is much better. It is made primarily from fruit juice. They had little cups, so Jon asked if we could get our two scoops in those. They said sure, and we put in our order. I got one scoop of mora, and one scoop of something whose name I don't recall at the moment. They asked us to sit at a table and they'd bring it to us when it was ready. Several minutes went by, and we were wondering if they would ever bring it to us. When the paila came out, it was covered in mora and chocolate sauces, whipped cream, and topped with a strawberry and a cookie. All of this for only $2 each! It was amazing. I was ready to get another one.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipcDVwWW13iedCKUekAvV5q2fASw6XQ_D3ecSP9qDzhd2zIyGMlm2WciifV9ig2v-PdiiIi1WWfEVsDD3xaMH92scnlw5yAhqx_30J-RB1gGnx4Gf4aaX4Y8yZUOg4avPyxuJ-W2mtggM/s1600/IMG_5433.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipcDVwWW13iedCKUekAvV5q2fASw6XQ_D3ecSP9qDzhd2zIyGMlm2WciifV9ig2v-PdiiIi1WWfEVsDD3xaMH92scnlw5yAhqx_30J-RB1gGnx4Gf4aaX4Y8yZUOg4avPyxuJ-W2mtggM/s320/IMG_5433.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500605845935504626" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Paila=awesomeness! </span><br /></div><br /><br />As we were eating ice cream, Jon asked if I'd like to see rhinoceros beetles. I'm always up to see bugs, so we mosied over to the insectarium. It turns out that it's been there for several years now, but we didn't know it was there. They had tons of mounted insects and arachnids as well as some live tarantulas, hercules beetles, and rhinoceros beetles. For a mere $2, a man will place several of the large beetles on you, snap a picture, and print it out for you. That sounded like a deal to me, so I decided to do it. These things were huge and awesome! We asked if I could hold the largest one, and he got that out too. I need to scan the picture so I can post it. It was an excellent experience. I'm ready to get one for a pet! Once that was out of the way, we wondered around the edge of the room looking at all of the fantastic mounted critters. They had plenty of mounted butterflies, but they had something more exciting than that. In the Amazon, there is a large, green bug that legend holds will kill you in 24 hours once it bites you. The only remedy is to have sex within the 24 hours. One of its nicknames is the "sex bug." I've heard stories of it here, but I'd never seen it before. They had three different ones mounted. The thing is big, but I was disappointed because it was brown, not green. It turns out that it looses its color once it dies. I wish I could have gotten a picture of it, but they didn't allow us to take pictures inside.<br /><br />Our last stop was also in Mitad del Mundo. They have a model of the Old City of Quito that is only open at certain times during the day. We walked over to see if it would be opening any time soon, and the door swung open just as we walked in. It was interesting to see the city from that perspective. They also slowly lowered the lights as if sunset was happening, and all of the little buildings lit up. After a couple of minutes, the lights slowly came up starting in the East and we were back to daylight. It was a cool little exhibit.<br /><br />Overall, it was a very eventful day. I'm really looking forward to church at Ofelia tomorrow. It should be a fun service!dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-69077291838129998062010-07-30T22:41:00.007-04:002010-07-30T23:16:04.902-04:00Ecuador Day 3: Zip-Lines and Steak!Yesterday morning, Jon asked me if there was anything specific I'd like to do while I was here. I asked if there was anything he wanted to suggest anything. He asked if I was interested in going on a zip-line in Mindo. I had been wanting to go on a zip-line through the jungle for a long time, so this sounded like a plan to me. When the Lamberts realized that Danny didn't have to be at work until 7PM, we made plans to have a guys day zipping through the trees. <br /><br />Instead of going to the one they typically take groups to in Mindo, Jon decided to try out one that's just before Mindo called Toucanopy (isn't that a great name?). We meandered along a one lane dirt road for a while taking a wrong turn once because we didn't see the little arrow that might have been pointing to Toucanopy.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhhOypfDSoI7exZv0jqoC0gpM80apJ2cVuIKRuQayXJty3kQzyypnKSamjC9vWQ5lG0hQETjKdRJ1yxEgW1p8YfaDjnNZdstFU7Sbz-gXq_2x49sXEXnVtlhh3IlgdMkU6d9EfwZ1QWI/s1600/_MG_5171.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGhhOypfDSoI7exZv0jqoC0gpM80apJ2cVuIKRuQayXJty3kQzyypnKSamjC9vWQ5lG0hQETjKdRJ1yxEgW1p8YfaDjnNZdstFU7Sbz-gXq_2x49sXEXnVtlhh3IlgdMkU6d9EfwZ1QWI/s320/_MG_5171.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499897698819720242" /></a><br /><br /> Once we saw the arrow and followed it, we had no trouble finding the place. There's a sign near where you park that asks you to announce yourself and there's a bell hanging beside it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge9uof530vPhg93eCTp0VES9z1MBJ4_BDQ4FLO0cKcVl3VwwagOWZSWbzpSGW0qdXV3lC0M5_udq1QFLhAQHDgQMuB9gcMtwg-TLKddyHqrklCFtcXUHO6UCbjueKDG1MB495d3cr3FhU/s1600/_MG_5173.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge9uof530vPhg93eCTp0VES9z1MBJ4_BDQ4FLO0cKcVl3VwwagOWZSWbzpSGW0qdXV3lC0M5_udq1QFLhAQHDgQMuB9gcMtwg-TLKddyHqrklCFtcXUHO6UCbjueKDG1MB495d3cr3FhU/s320/_MG_5173.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499897708753241250" /></a><br /> We rang the bell, and were greeted very quickly by an extremely friendly black and tan dachshund. A woman, Nina, was not far behind him. <br /><br />She greeted us and led us along a path to where we could gear up for the zip line. Along the way, she explained how many lines there were, how long the longest was, how fast you could go if you weighed enough, and how much it cost. She explained this all in Spanish forgetting that 1/3 of our group (me) really only spoke English. Thankfully, Jon remembered to give me a brief summary. It turns out I had caught the highlights because I can usually pick out numbers as well as meters. The longest zip-line was going to be over 500 meters long, the tallest over 60 meters tall, and the fastest one could reach speeds of about 60km/hour. By this point, I was quite excited.<br /><br />They put us in very nice padded climbing harness, gave us zip line pulleys, gloves, leather breaks, and helmets. At this point, I think they figured they had us committed enough that we would now sign the waiver. I'm rather thankful we got to see the equipment before we signed anything. Just as we were getting ready to go, a group started coming off the last leg of the series. It just looked like fun!<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6SFk6NpJbEK7CkgZXUb1NxhPtylSNFHGE0pTqYUqgaS41aIuig0r_iwstmGUvcUHHU5Q-9WvaocRquaN4AABy8VgBX-ZmYjVRYYW2FjC0f29cAnfOJW1WgWY_3aPkKGGG-UesaaM6WQ/s1600/_MG_5182.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZ6SFk6NpJbEK7CkgZXUb1NxhPtylSNFHGE0pTqYUqgaS41aIuig0r_iwstmGUvcUHHU5Q-9WvaocRquaN4AABy8VgBX-ZmYjVRYYW2FjC0f29cAnfOJW1WgWY_3aPkKGGG-UesaaM6WQ/s320/_MG_5182.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499902209422919170" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjI84pRIuYg2X2_ivL4P1EB38O7-fN-sBNMjMPk6Vbd8iso-r3ZqA8F7mkUEdA8r555oXwSZ4DXo9CUi-yLgLb4jjnlmxrw0oX5N7i-ANZ4Buj8KpxDkS3q7KkHCZW8_Wq4HqDK6SO0pY/s1600/_MG_5181.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjI84pRIuYg2X2_ivL4P1EB38O7-fN-sBNMjMPk6Vbd8iso-r3ZqA8F7mkUEdA8r555oXwSZ4DXo9CUi-yLgLb4jjnlmxrw0oX5N7i-ANZ4Buj8KpxDkS3q7KkHCZW8_Wq4HqDK6SO0pY/s320/_MG_5181.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499902199625645522" /></a><br /><br />They started us off on a fairly short and slow one so we could get used to it and practice braking. It was awesome. I've been on zip lines before, but always ones at challenge courses, and the views you see on those just cannot compare. We were zipping over the tree tops listening to the birds and bugs.<br /><br />There are a series of six zip lines at Toucanopy that allow us to see different plants and terrain. One of them goes beside several large white palms, a species of palm tree that are endangered here. One took us by lots of bromeliads. My two favorite zip lines were the fastest one, which went by the white palm tress, and the longest once, which was also the last one. Nina, one of our guides, told us that we could reach 60km/h (37.28 mph). The problem is that very light people cannot get enough momentum to attain that speed. Nina took one look at me and assured me that I would have to problem reaching that speed. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1V2t9FDrz5f2keXQDzRdLBt4yCVwalawibBz0Clk6miZ_PJJEYOddgOKvsRtFeqbiR29ND07C0tbbasyypKmN65vUcClFGm-G_VT71QXPC4S1xMIC-J8m7ld6nM3PG_sIXM4JctsWFMk/s1600/_MG_5347.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1V2t9FDrz5f2keXQDzRdLBt4yCVwalawibBz0Clk6miZ_PJJEYOddgOKvsRtFeqbiR29ND07C0tbbasyypKmN65vUcClFGm-G_VT71QXPC4S1xMIC-J8m7ld6nM3PG_sIXM4JctsWFMk/s320/_MG_5347.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499902213508563058" /></a><br /><br />Along with seeing all of the awesome plants, we also got to see inch worms, centipedes, and even a spider. I was hoping to see some birds, but it was pretty cloudy and they weren't really showing themselves. On the plus side, there's plenty of humming birds around the house here to see. Jon also has a small aviary with some finches, canaries, and a South American cardinal. <br /><br />Once we got done with the zip line, we realized that it was only 12:30 and we still had time to grab lunch if we wanted. We mosied down to Mindo to eat at El Cheff. This is the restaurant that has steak on a rock. When the waitress came to take our order, I was still wrestling with what to get. Danny just looked at me and said, "You know you want the steak on a rock." He then ordered it for me. What a good decision it was too. $6.80 got me a steak on a rock, french fires, tomatoes, broccoli, and pickled carrots. It was pretty awesome. <br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaeAaEhFDgMsR1sLtP0yCZQWgdsbwxNTlqTd4tVs3iPz9wyk3Ot57lbvl4nrltiWFO9Wve2uWGRHwPDqNDa_frLBRp2yxXwteackgG9OSWaH3CYjyDMczG8QgefxlL6C_fUDTwhloYr-g/s1600/_MG_5361.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaeAaEhFDgMsR1sLtP0yCZQWgdsbwxNTlqTd4tVs3iPz9wyk3Ot57lbvl4nrltiWFO9Wve2uWGRHwPDqNDa_frLBRp2yxXwteackgG9OSWaH3CYjyDMczG8QgefxlL6C_fUDTwhloYr-g/s320/_MG_5361.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499902221978039698" /></a><br /><br />After that it was time to head back up to the house in Quito. Danny drove and we chatted while Jon slept in the back seat. This was the first time I'd really had a chance to talk with Danny. It was a little difficult because he doesn't get to practice his English much and my Spanish is really terrible.<br /><br />When we got back, I crashed for what I thought would be a short nap. It was a bit longer than I expected, but it was great! Then it was about time for supper. Over all, it's been a very eventful and fun day. Tomorrow, I'm tagging along with Jon and Karen to the monthly meeting with all of the pastors. It should be an interesting experience.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-29332990155391026302010-07-30T18:23:00.004-04:002010-07-30T18:44:51.892-04:00Ecuador Day 1: TravelI sit here on the AA flight 967 heading to Quito. We're about 35 minutes out from the airport. It's been a long day of travel. Mom and I left for Cincinnati at 9:30 this morning. I was thankful to get to spend some time with her as she's been in KY for 2 months and I've seen her for a total of less than 36 hours of it between my travel and her travel.The flight from Cincinnati was pretty painless, but it ended up being just what I needed. It's amazing how God chooses to speak to us. On the flight from Cincinnati to Miami, I decided to listen to my iPod some and a CD by Acoustix caught my eye. They're a barbershop quartet who have a good Christian album called O Worship the King. Just a few minutes before, it had hit me that I was about to be in another country to do an internship and teach. This is also my first time traveling out of the country without going with a group. I'll admit that I was freaking out a bit, especially about teaching. It's very intimidating and I feel rather inadequate. I'm mulling this all over while listening to the CD when the song "Fear Not My Child" came on. If you've never heard it, you should look it up. I'd heard it before, but never like this (and I've listened to this album a bunch of times). It came on right when I needed it. It also directed my thoughts to something E. Stanley Jones says in Christ of the Indian Road. He talks in there about how when he preached his first sermon, he got derailed very quickly after mispronouncing a word and making a college girl snicker. He realized then that God had not called him to be God's lawyer, but rather to be his witness. He talked about how God had always provided him with what to say as long as he sought what God wanted him to do. This is not an excuse to be lazy, but it does help me realize just how much I must rely on God and not myself. I just pray that God gives me wisdom and direction as I finish preparing to teach classes. This is easily the most intimidating thing I've ever had to do. <br />Update: It took me over an hour to get through Immigration and Customs because several flights were running late and all landed close together. Once I made it through Immigration, which was painless, I picked up my luggage and zipped right through Customs. It was the easiest time I've ever had going through Customs and Immigration. I think the fact that it was past midnight really helped things along. The Lamberts were waiting for me as I cleared customs. They were a welcome sight! We walked out to their car and made a beeline for the house. Dad had described the house to me, but he did not do it justice. It's absolutely beautiful. My room is the spear room. It has that name because there are spears on the walls. It's awesome! The big window looks right out onto Cayambe making for an incredible view. I crashed hard shortly after getting to the house, and that was the end of day one.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-71034519035091567342010-07-01T15:42:00.004-04:002010-07-01T15:44:25.312-04:00Israel Day 17: Modern JerusalemHere's my last impression report I have to write for the class. I still continue to do updates on the last few days here, but this is the last trip we took as a class.<br /><br /> Today was set aside as a day for us to mainly visit some of the more modern sites around Jerusalem. The day started with us spending several hours at Yad Vashem. Yad Vashem is a memorial and museum dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. I was unsure what to expect, but I was interested to see it. I’ve been to quite a few museums, and my least favorites are typically ones that mainly focus on history. History is just a subject that doesn’t interest me all that much. This museum was different.<br /><br /> Looking at the model of the place, the main hall doesn’t look terribly big. Dr. Rasmussen warned us that it would take a couple of hours to go through, but I was rather skeptical. The reason is that in most places such as this, I mainly look at the pictures and only read the signs that accompany the pictures that really catch my attention. I was unable to do that here. The stories told in the signs just draw you in. The most haunting aspect of many of the displays were the videos shown. Many of these videos were Holocaust survivors telling their stories. They were all so moving. It was like there was a magnet drawing me to many of these videos. Many of the people sharing in the videos were kids during this time. It was horrifying to hear them recount being lined up in front of pits with many others and then having soldiers shoot at them to murder them. Some of these kids were not actually hit but fell onto the piles of bodies anyway and were later to escape later. I cannot imagine what that must have been like. Nearly 90 minutes into my visit, I realized I’d seen less than half of the hall and I really had to hurry up and start rushing through. This is a place I really need to spend an entire day at to truly see and read everything.<br /><br /> This was one of the best, if not the best, museum I’ve ever seen in design. The exhibits and space add to the story being told without distracting you from it. I had no problem reading any of the exhibits as the light was never too low. It also had a very natural flow which kept people from really bumping into each other. I was just impressed with every component of the facility.<br /><br /> There were two places at Yad Vashem that really moved me. The first is the Hall of Names. It’s a large circular room with a deep pit in the center. Suspended above it is a large conical shaped piece that has hundreds of pictures on the inside of it. Around the perimeter of the room are probably thousands of boxes that contain the names and personal details of millions of victims recorded on Pages of Testimony (I had to look at their website to get it right). What struck was not the large number of records, but the vast number of shelves till empty. This is because they know that they have not recorded the details of all of the victims yet. They hope and expect to receive records on many more people.<br /><br /> The other place that really made me pause and reflect was the Children’s Memorial. This memorial is dedicated to the some 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust. Entering the first part of the memorial, you see pictures of some of the children murdered set into a glass display. As you enter the main room which is very dark, you hear a voice reading the names, ages, and country of origin of many of the victims. All of the walls are mirrored and the reflect a candle in the very center of the room. These reflections make it appear as if there are thousands, if not millions, of candles in the room. This really brought home to me just how many children were murdered during the Holocaust.<br /><br />While I had not known what to expect at Yad Vashem, it exceeded every expectation I could possibly have had. It was one of the most moving experiences of the trip for me.<br /><br />After visiting Yad Vashem, we went to the Israel Museum for a little bit. The museum is undergoing extensive renovation which means that most of it is closed. The two main sections we wanted to see, however, were still open. The first is a 1:50 model of Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period. This model is positively amazing! During this time, Jerusalem had three different walls around it. I had studied maps and drawings of the layout, but it was fairly difficult for me to follow. Seeing these walls in “real life” made it much easier to understand the layout. I also had no idea that the Temple towered so high above the rest of the city. It was an amazing thing to see.<br /><br /> After looking at the model and discussing it, we moved to the Shrine of the Book. This is an exhibit dedicated to the Dead Sea Scrolls. They have some artifacts from Qumran as well as sections of various scrolls. They also have a life size reproduction of the complete Isaiah Scroll. The exhibit was impressive, and it was awesome to see documents that were that old. I think I would have enjoyed it more, however, if I could actually read and understand Hebrew or Aramaic. I’m not sure about this, but I suspect it would have made a difference.<br /><br /> We next drove to Shiloh to have lunch and see the antiquities site. The most interesting part of this location for me is that this is where the Tabernacle was located at one point. The only problem is that we don’t know for sure where the tabernacle was located. This is because the Romans later came in and built there as well. When the Romans built, they built on bedrock which means they destroyed whatever was beneath it. Because of this, there is not a lot of archaeological to help determine different buildings were located.<br /><br /> Our last stop of the day was at the Garden Tomb. This is a location I had looked forward to visiting. Stupidly though, I left my camera on the bus. Oh well, I got some postcards that have better photos on them than I would probably have taken. We first viewed a possible location for Golgotha. I actually had already seen this as you can get a good view of it from several different locations just outside the Old City or on top of the ramparts of the walls of the Old City. We then wandered through the gardens with the tour guide until we came to the tomb. It was an impressive sight to see. This really caused many of us to ponder if this tomb or one very close by was the burial place of Jesus. Our tour guide made the comment that the actual location doesn’t really matter to him because the tomb is not what we should be concerned with. We should focus on the fact that all we can do is look at various empty tombs because Jesus is alive! He made a very good point. It still didn’t answer my question about whether or not this was likely place though. I talked to Dr. Richter about it and she said that very few scholars believe this is the correct location. Many still believe the true location is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Regardless of whether or not the Garden Tomb is the true site, it is still a good visual of what the tomb may have originally looked like. Visiting the Garden Tomb was a great way to end our day of study and travel.<br /> <br /> This day also ended this class except for the final exam we have tomorrow afternoon. This is a bittersweet moment for me. Part of me wants this class to go on much longer, but I’m also totally worn out. I’ve spent the past three weeks trying to drink from a fire hose, and my brain is overloaded. I now need time to unpack everything I’ve learned and seen on this trip. The good thing is that while the class is almost over, the trip is not. We will have almost three full days to rest, shop, explore, and revisit locations in Jerusalem that interest us. This means I’ll have the chance to eat more food in the Old City. Most of us went out to eat tonight to thank Dr and Mrs. Rasmussen, Dr. and Mrs. Wright, and Cyndi Parker for all of their hard work for this class as well as just to celebrate the end of the class. If the other food I find in the Old City is half as good as this, I’ll be a happy camper!dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-70752546018571860392010-07-01T14:49:00.003-04:002010-07-01T14:52:05.820-04:00Israel Day 16: Sepphoris, Nazareth, En Harod, Beth Shean/SycthopolisAfter we all had breakfast and had loaded up the bus, we took off to Sepphoris. This is an antiquities site that I didn’t know anything about. But, we had been told that there were some great mosaics there, so I was looking forward to that. As we entered the antiquities site, we started walking down a Roman road that actually dates back to Roman times. The stones were basically all worn smooth, but the road was still pretty bumpy because it was still made of individual stones. You could see deep ruts worn into some of them. Some of us pondered what it would have been like to ride a chariot down that road. My only thought is that as much as I’d like to drive a chariot, riding it down that road would be murder on your knees.<br /><br /> The mosaics were indeed as beautiful as they had been described. I thought I had seen some good mosaics before coming to Israel, but they’re nothing compared to the ones I’ve seen all over this country. Some of the ones I’ve seen at Sepphoris are the most intricate I’ve seen anywhere. I tried to take pictures of them, but no photo did them justice. The best part is that two of them have building built of them that have AC to help preserve them. I was a big fan of these two locations!<br /><br /> Next we stopped at an overlook that is above Nazareth. Nazareth has a ring of hills around it forming a kind of bowl shaped valley in the middle. While the city is fairly large and is up and over the sides of some of the hills, Biblical Nazareth was quite a bit smaller. It’s thought that it probably rested towards the bottom of the bowl where it was more protected. The down side to this is that no cool breeze probably blew through there. Rather, the breeze would have blown above it. It was interesting to see what all was near Nazareth as well as the probable location for the ancient site, but it really wasn’t too impressive to me because of the big city around it. It just didn’t seem like the little village I’ve always imagined.<br /><br /> For lunch, we stopped at En Harod. This is the probable location of where Gideon and his army drank from the spring. This is also where God pared down Gideon’s army to just 300 men. In my mind, this spring was going to be pretty large. I imagined it to be like some of the big springs we have in Florida. I should have learned at this point that most sites here are smaller than I imagined. This spring was no exception. I had trouble picturing so many men drinking from the spring. Dr. Stone shared with us some about Gideon and his battle against the Middianites. Standing where Gideon stood and looking at where they would have had to march to brings a whole new appreciation for this event. Seeing it in its larger context really helped me to picture just how tough these men would have had to be, and just how much they would have needed to depend on God.<br /><br /> Beth Shean was our last stop of the Galilee Field Study. What was interesting to me about this site is that you have an Iron Age Israelite site at the top of the tel. Lower down is an Early Bronze age site that would go back to the fifth or fourth millennium BC, and below that a Greco Roman site. On top of all of this, there’s one place you can stand at the Iron Age site where you can see the other two sites below and a McDonalds in the distance. That’s a huge swath of human history right there!<br /> <br />By the time we left this antiquities site, I was actually ready to get back to JUC. It fealt like I had been away from home for a very long time. Our time in the Galilee region was a great deal of fun, but it was also extremely tiring.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-74082948756178618692010-06-30T13:36:00.007-04:002010-06-30T14:34:57.332-04:00Israel Day 15: Boat Ride, Visiting the Jesus Boat, Churches, Rock Hyrax, and Arbel!Here's my impression report for yesterday. It was quite an eventful day!<br /><br />The first stop of the day was the one I was the most excited about for the whole Galilee trip. The prospect of a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee just sounded like so much fun! I’ll even admit that I was secretly hoping that a storm would suddenly blow in so we could experience a taste of what the disciples felt. Then we were told that storms have caused waves as high as ten meters on the Sea of Galilee. I can live without experiencing waves that high on a body of water that small!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjf-DTm0e1aVEkVoff6RzlhBVEG-zgn_D8Yk-aKNgGfEJjTvjUGvSWsHGHIezh0PKsEGSnqiRwslrf19Wkk1JJ4qautdWDmdPzpMBW0-NkJ5-Tkp4bLLWexfiRbzb6OZ4EkaGj1BMztkI/s1600/IMG_3012.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjf-DTm0e1aVEkVoff6RzlhBVEG-zgn_D8Yk-aKNgGfEJjTvjUGvSWsHGHIezh0PKsEGSnqiRwslrf19Wkk1JJ4qautdWDmdPzpMBW0-NkJ5-Tkp4bLLWexfiRbzb6OZ4EkaGj1BMztkI/s320/IMG_3012.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488626681579102514" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Yar! A photo of the inside of our sturdy seafaring vessel.<br /><br /></span></div> The boat ride was indeed a blast, and the boat was actually bigger and nicer than I expected. The highlight of the boat ride for me was when one of the men from the crew demonstrated the use of a castnet. The net he used was similar to what would have been used in the first century, but it was made out of different material. Instead of being made of rope for the net and stones for the weights, it was made of nylon for the net and metal weights. It was still interesting though.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptfpE9vs382rsmpPg7sWzhikXTjMtpTWkRSfPNMzOlxz6Y0Xr91IZxIWX_n8z4TSLXxm-Qckj-vKucD0uQXNC2eNjD_g_pPIpKi-4o8SL0ljhxBBK64sBLxWIdDaccikXZ_eGh-BWNP0/s1600/IMG_3039.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhptfpE9vs382rsmpPg7sWzhikXTjMtpTWkRSfPNMzOlxz6Y0Xr91IZxIWX_n8z4TSLXxm-Qckj-vKucD0uQXNC2eNjD_g_pPIpKi-4o8SL0ljhxBBK64sBLxWIdDaccikXZ_eGh-BWNP0/s320/IMG_3039.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488626690870938690" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">A deckhand demonstrates how to throw a cast net</span><br /></div><br /><br />The location we docked at is the home of the Jesus Boat. This is a boat that was discovered less than 30 years ago. It seems to be from the first century, and is remarkably intact. This is the kind of boat that Jesus and the disciples would have used on the Sea of Galilee. My only disappointment in the exhibit was that they didn’t spend much time discussing how they preserved the boat. It soaked in a pool of chemicals for years, but I really wanted to know what kinds of chemicals. This is something I’ll have to look up later. The way the boat was displayed was absolutely stunning. I really enjoyed the way they used sandblasted pieces of glass cut in wavy patterns to mimic water. The blue lighting really enhanced the effect. It was a very creative and well done exhibit. I just wish I had thought to bring a tripod on this trip just so that I could have gotten a decent picture of the boat and exhibit. Oh well, live and learn.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydQC2TFKCNqWSEoC815qK0UtYf1d_tQ-fBUUkh4_OqGFn1HOwTyWnPjOw-3c7dyFCJvnVIqA4vU93eeXSovglw3r20B0r1_zgFmFArzQSuUqis4ETCOU08P6kWx61ZNmUymrXFMc4-04/s1600/IMG_3059.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgydQC2TFKCNqWSEoC815qK0UtYf1d_tQ-fBUUkh4_OqGFn1HOwTyWnPjOw-3c7dyFCJvnVIqA4vU93eeXSovglw3r20B0r1_zgFmFArzQSuUqis4ETCOU08P6kWx61ZNmUymrXFMc4-04/s320/IMG_3059.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488626702565401634" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Jesus Boat. I had to use a flash so the picture is very washed out. The actual exhibit is much, much prettier<span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></div><br />Next on the agenda was a visit to two different churches. This is really what I needed at this point in the trip. We first went to a church that celebrates the miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000. The church was one of the most peaceful I’ve ever visited. The church had some beautiful mosaics that were a joy to view. It was a great place just to spend a few minutes in prayer.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9aS3Bjd7j4ZhyphenhyphenWlAIzS_WnB1H6D64ffWsfr9cLYjpqbihmoWJLX5vSmlmXsGPw8xO3tN12HpDKA1zqGUuk2g3CWrFLmufdRMqy5hHdNC-NtDbqSt0GqlZBbqWYZ8Oto6NYAikM83x_Ac/s1600/IMG_3064.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9aS3Bjd7j4ZhyphenhyphenWlAIzS_WnB1H6D64ffWsfr9cLYjpqbihmoWJLX5vSmlmXsGPw8xO3tN12HpDKA1zqGUuk2g3CWrFLmufdRMqy5hHdNC-NtDbqSt0GqlZBbqWYZ8Oto6NYAikM83x_Ac/s320/IMG_3064.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488626713385906018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Theo courtyard outside the church. The pond below the olive tree has a bunch of koi in it!<br /></span></div><br />We then moved on to the church that commemorates (and claims to be the location of) Jesus giving the Beatitudes. The sisters there had reserved us a location where we were able to have a short worship service. We sang a few songs, and then McKenzie shared with us a few thoughts on the Beatitudes and visiting the Holy Land in general. We were then given 45 minutes to wander around the grounds of the church as well as the church itself. This came when I needed it most. This trip is very intensive and tiring, and the focus is mainly on academics. Even though we get a handful of free days or afternoons, we have to spend most of them studying for our exams and doing map work. The 45 minutes we had at this location gave me a time when all we had to do was enjoy the gardens and spend time in prayer and contemplation. Up until this point, I had been getting more and more worn out and the trip was starting to be a chore rather than a joy. This little bit of time given to us helped me to refocus my priorities for the rest of the trip. I only wish we had gotten a chance to experience this sooner.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqCTvmgfM0As56tRFX0AqgQHDXHLTHUq7RBNr4ALZD47eJdttqt-LzcgE0v-JTkc6SYMp57M-ilGjNH5zDN_vIkLZC9lfCvkc6SP4PD91cL1Xq5KX08KvkaAKVJX_8_zS8OGEuQk2xaE/s1600/IMG_3102.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqCTvmgfM0As56tRFX0AqgQHDXHLTHUq7RBNr4ALZD47eJdttqt-LzcgE0v-JTkc6SYMp57M-ilGjNH5zDN_vIkLZC9lfCvkc6SP4PD91cL1Xq5KX08KvkaAKVJX_8_zS8OGEuQk2xaE/s320/IMG_3102.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488626720509070658" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Just one photo of the beautiful gardens at this church.<br /></span></div><br /><br />The best part about the visit to Chorazim was that there were a bunch of rock hyraxes there. I’ll take a moment to admit that I have no idea what the plural of hyrax is. Anywho, there were a bunch of them and I was able to not only see them in the wild but also get a few pictures of them. This was incredibly exciting for me because the one animal I really wanted to see in Israel was a rock hyrax. Not only did I see one of them, I got to see a bunch. They were everywhere!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq8T9QKc4Vjf5nC9etml7eID9vPJYn4RqmzbIbEPwhEZDLs0oNL5jy2AH9cyvtCTKzgHm33_mtlBcYc875zg1NfrUU6e8DnUbok04-Y6Ibkou4Wbnyt-2woC5b9K7wRAfNHTWLZ2riNBg/s1600/IMG_3125.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq8T9QKc4Vjf5nC9etml7eID9vPJYn4RqmzbIbEPwhEZDLs0oNL5jy2AH9cyvtCTKzgHm33_mtlBcYc875zg1NfrUU6e8DnUbok04-Y6Ibkou4Wbnyt-2woC5b9K7wRAfNHTWLZ2riNBg/s320/IMG_3125.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488631097342452706" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Isn't this a cute rock hyrax?</span><br /></div><br />The last stop of the day was the cliffs of Arbel. We had tried to stop here on our first day, but we were just late enough getting there that we weren’t able to see it then. We hiked over to the top of one of the cliffs to discuss what we could see and to admire the view. I say we walked over because we were already nearly to the top of the cliff when we parked the bus. The hike the rest of the way to the top was short and the ascent was minimal. Then we were given the option to walk back to the bus or to take an hour long hike.<br /><br />I opted for the hike. I was smart enough to take two liters of water with me. This ended up being a very good thing, even though it made my backpack heavier than I would have liked. The hike down was fairly steep with us having to climb down small metal rungs at times. Part of me kept thinking that this was crazy. Thankfully, I continued on. By the time we finished our descent, I had already torn through liter number one of water and was wishing I had brought three liters with me instead of just two. It didn’t help that it was 40°C (104°F). If I had known it was this hot, I might have opted to go back to the bus rather than hike. Thankfully, there was a bit of somewhat flat ground to walk on for a while, which was a nice break from climbing down. There were all kinds of caves that Jewish men hid in at one point when they were defying Herod. They were pretty interesting to see. Finally we came to the point where we needed to start climbing back up the cliff.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnXmdKFN-POEXkQHJvfgo0x5b2RXs0JYExU0ySKL_U3syDAtZSMQ7ULWV7tfzk_qFSDKSZ74QTL-TkldmKrRd-ny91N3DI2cv4CuYkffjxCqq9BMI-_VJ9neWzTGGJpMvv0AontUAT-0/s1600/IMG_3190.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpnXmdKFN-POEXkQHJvfgo0x5b2RXs0JYExU0ySKL_U3syDAtZSMQ7ULWV7tfzk_qFSDKSZ74QTL-TkldmKrRd-ny91N3DI2cv4CuYkffjxCqq9BMI-_VJ9neWzTGGJpMvv0AontUAT-0/s320/IMG_3190.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488635372450805682" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">Arbel is lots of fun. Really!<br /></span></div><br />This was the part I had been dreading. Initially, we had a fairly steep hike up that was longer than I expected. Then we came to the point where hiking up a nice trail was no longer really an option. It was time to start climbing back up the cliff. Thankfully, the park service is kind enough to put in big metal rungs and cables that you can hang onto and step on (in the case of the rungs that is). If the climb had been much steeper or if those rungs hadn’t been there, I would have been looking for a harness and climbing rope. Overall, the climb back up wasn’t too terrible. At least it wouldn’t have been if it hadn’t been so hot outside. By the time I made it back to the bus, I had consumed all the water I had and was wishing we hadn’t already used up the rest of the water on the bus. I was very thankful to get back to En Gev and get more water.<br />The capstone to the whole day was getting back to the resort at En Gev earlier than we expected. This was great because it meant we had time to change into our swimsuits and go swimming in the Sea of Galilee for a while before supper. After hiking in 104°F temperatures, swimming in the cool, calm water of the Sea of Galilee felt amazing. I had initially planned to go swimming again after supper, but the post-Arbel swim was so wonderful that swimming again would have just been disappointing.<br /><br />The final event of the day was a worship service on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that Dr. Richter had put together. Dr. Stone and Laurie White took turns leading us in some songs. In between these, several people shared testimonies of how God is working in their lives, or epiphanies and insights God had given them during this trip. It was a great time of worship and praise, and really helped to sum up our trip thus far. I walked away from that service thinking that if we had ended the trip right then and there, I would feel like this trip had been worth it. Everything else to come is just icing on the cake.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9jftZLJ8Ws4Jn7AvBBkq906umycIcBFG01ghdrxCH3U6bZPrCg-bSU9cIlroTeAfbBm-vY6pZY8JiyY2Ovsw8nRKZlwMAze5Mr-KgaGPt3pLOtmoJo_JZZ-FnwjqIc9ok5OU6iDZGrs/s1600/IMG_2992.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf9jftZLJ8Ws4Jn7AvBBkq906umycIcBFG01ghdrxCH3U6bZPrCg-bSU9cIlroTeAfbBm-vY6pZY8JiyY2Ovsw8nRKZlwMAze5Mr-KgaGPt3pLOtmoJo_JZZ-FnwjqIc9ok5OU6iDZGrs/s320/IMG_2992.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488635381775846290" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">This picture was taken the day before. It's just too pretty not to use<br /></span></div>dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-43263559085730082812010-06-28T15:00:00.002-04:002010-06-28T15:10:16.615-04:00Israel Day 14: Hazor, Dan, and the Golan HeightsI don't really feel like posting pictures tonight. I might come back and add them later. But here's the impression report.<br /><br /> Today we started off the day heading to Hazor. This was a location I had heard a lot of people talk about, but I didn’t know much about it. One interesting thing about it is that it is a very large tel (mound) which means it was probably a very large city. The tel is over 200 acres. This is huge, especially when compared to places like Jericho which is only seven acres. There were two things I found interesting there.<br /> The first is that Hazor is currently an active dig site. There were people doing excavations while we were walking around. This was interesting especially because we got to talk with someone who has excavated there for several seasons now. Honestly though, my main initial impression was that it’s another antiquities site that has had some reconstruction done to it, but it’s till an antiquities site. There were a few interesting things there, but overall, it’s already run together in my mind with most of the other tels I’ve been to.<br /> The second interesting thing that happened there for me was that I spotted a rough tailed agama while Dr. Rasmussen was talking about something (I think it was a storehouse). I lifted up my camera and managed to get one shot of it before I was yelled at for taking a picture while he was lecturing. To be perfectly honest, I was really annoyed by that. Agamas are not terribly common lizards to see when there are so many people around. Compound that with the fact that the rough tail agama only occurs in part of Israel—a part I’m only in for a few days—and the agama had my sole attention. The tel has been there for thousands of years and it will probably continue to be around for many more. That agama will not be. That means to this point, I’ve seen ibex, two different frog species whose pictures I need to check against a field guide to be sure what they are, several bird species (mainly pigeons and doves though), a spider I have yet to identify because the only field guide for it I’ve seen so far was in Hebrew, and a lizard I only saw the tail of so I’m not sure what it is. I was hoping to see more wildlife here. I guess I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed!<br /> One of our next stops was Tel Dan and the nature preserve there. The nature preserve was absolutely beautiful. I wish we had been able to spend more time walking through a few of the trails to hopefully see the wildlife instead of rushing through it all to get to the antiquities site. I recognize that the antiquities sites are important, and there was some fascinating stuff there, but there’s really something to be said for enjoying God’s creation. Man’s creation is interesting, but I find God’s far more magnificent. That’s why I’m so glad to be able to spend some time here sitting on the shore of the sea of Galilee watching the water and sky and listening to the waves lap against the shore.<br /> The main part of the antiquities component of Tel Dan that I found interesting was listening to Dr. Richter talk about site B which she and Dr. Stone, along with some students from Asbury, helped excavate. The most fascinating part of her talk was when she was talking about the Muslim graves they excavated as part of that site. The anthropologist that worked with them there was able to estimate the ages of the people buried there fairly accurately. Not only that, but the anthropologist was able to determine things like how well they ate and how hard they would have worked by closely examining the skeletons. This makes the site more real because it gives it a face (well, skull really) and some form of an identity. It made the site more human to me.<br /> Visiting Qasrin was an interesting site because of all the reconstruction done. We got to go in a reconstructed house to see how a family might have lived several thousand years ago. The most moving part of this was listening to Dr. Richter talk about how in a given family, everyone would have known everyone else’s business because they all lived in such close quarters. Not only that, but everyone in the community knew everyone else’s business. Isaiah uses an analogy at one point of a women in labor who is losing all of her strength and cannot birth a child. In this situation at that time, that was a death sentence for both mother and child. Dr. Richter went on to talk about how when a woman first went into labor, the whole community would be aware of what was happening because of her cries and the activity of the family. As she started to lose her strength the community would realize this and they would know when she died. When this happened, this was not a loss just for the family, but for the entire community. This was absolutely heartbreaking, and it served to put make Isaiah’s analogy become more real. This passage came alive to me like it never had before.<br /> At the tail end of the day, we stopped by Bethsaida to have a quick look around. This site was interesting mainly because what we visited is called et-Tell. The reason for this is that we’re not sure that this is the location of Bethsaida. It seems to be a good candidate, but it’s anything but certain. It showed me just how difficult it can be to be certain of the physical location of a place mentioned in the Bible. Names change over time, and as this happens, some names get lost to history. Bethsaida is one of those sites.<br /> Overall, today was a good day that allowed me to see more of God’s beautiful creation. It’s really helped me to feel more of a connection to events in the Bible and the locations at which they took place.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-84874586824739513402010-06-27T15:49:00.004-04:002010-06-27T16:27:17.533-04:00Israel Day 13: Caesarea, Mt. Carmel, Megiddo, and the Sea of GalileeAfter spending so much time in Central and South Israel, I was looking forward to see the Northern part of Israel. I was especially excited to see the Sea of Galilee. I’ll even admit that I was a little bit bummed that we would be visiting other locations first.<br />I was unsure of what to expect with Caesarea. I knew it was an important sea port in its day and is mentioned in the Bible some, but I didn’t really know anything about it. I’ll even admit that the prospect of yet another antiquities site with a bunch of ruins that mostly look like other ruins was not appealing to me because I’m not an archaeologist and I’ve never taken an archaeology class. Caesarea was a welcome change from the expected. Like Masada, it’s had a great deal of reconstruction work done on some sections. This allowed me to get a better idea of what it looked like back in the first century. Even better, they had some excellent marble statues as well as other architectural pieces on display. I’ve been lucky enough to see some marble statues in art museums, but it was another experience entirely to see different statues in a context that is starting to approach the context of where they would have originally been displayed. It’s still not the same, but it brings the appreciation to a whole new level.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0cKBs2mYDKcY0MDALnNo8Inr2lIidUk4xISaj9XZzjli0QAfe5r6K7FF5i2pkY3f-DbYbce0QQ8_3fiIUvyhmWdA6-q5LAgpQ99vyxr_QU82ubdTstD_eUQeXsTz6XsQW_TAw2lUkRc/s1600/IMG_2669.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj0cKBs2mYDKcY0MDALnNo8Inr2lIidUk4xISaj9XZzjli0QAfe5r6K7FF5i2pkY3f-DbYbce0QQ8_3fiIUvyhmWdA6-q5LAgpQ99vyxr_QU82ubdTstD_eUQeXsTz6XsQW_TAw2lUkRc/s320/IMG_2669.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487546260908355570" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A marble statue of a man with a lamb around his neck<br /><br /></span></div> The major highlight for me there was walking around the kurkar rocks that made the foundation for the lower part of the palace as well as the swimming pool. The best part of it was that the Mediterranean Sea was splashing up onto the rocks filling the remnants of the swimming pool as well as creating all sorts of tidal pools in the eroded rocks.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitHvPLfJSOqd231tFgwNED9qEsA9xq7w1hsyKBWejqZxUnXgQ5GnKt1BGhHW-XbdQEGou0GxAdxp1kHD6R9frulLDcUes_yhsn4nL46fgAnqAJPsLqXQi48r1KO2R5ldZ3gM1ccQWhfr0/s1600/IMG_2712.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitHvPLfJSOqd231tFgwNED9qEsA9xq7w1hsyKBWejqZxUnXgQ5GnKt1BGhHW-XbdQEGou0GxAdxp1kHD6R9frulLDcUes_yhsn4nL46fgAnqAJPsLqXQi48r1KO2R5ldZ3gM1ccQWhfr0/s320/IMG_2712.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487546273057051234" border="0" /></a><br />There were small fishes, arthropods, and even one nice size dead crab in one pool. Granted, the crab was indeed dead, but at least I got to see some Mediterranean Sea critters up close and personal. Even if one of them—the crab—won’t remember it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWqcvwVrwIBfKNCDmu9i0Mhi4NZRmz_XJz7G1jBbYpBDk2OYCjtzYi4imDKT-Pz_yU6g2lAkBOblq-fVyY3PHDrTvT9E9UMAF-NP0S8t0Aed65e9WVmtoYzRJDcKSg7msgT-bJ24g1QhE/s1600/IMG_2718.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWqcvwVrwIBfKNCDmu9i0Mhi4NZRmz_XJz7G1jBbYpBDk2OYCjtzYi4imDKT-Pz_yU6g2lAkBOblq-fVyY3PHDrTvT9E9UMAF-NP0S8t0Aed65e9WVmtoYzRJDcKSg7msgT-bJ24g1QhE/s320/IMG_2718.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487546316883798482" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Me and a dead crab</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Next we mosied over to the aqueducts. This was far more exciting for me than I ever would have expected. I’ve seen lots of pictures of aqueducts, but this was my first time to experience them up close and personal. The best part was that we were even allowed to climb on top of them! As I was walking down, the thought that kept popping into my mind was that people would have constructed these by hand. They’re an impressive feat of engineering. The only down side to walking along the top of them was that at some point I had to climb back down. It didn’t occur to me that I’d probably have to jump down the last six feet since down climbing them would seem pretty difficult. In retrospect, down climbing probably would have been the better option. Oh well, live and learn I guess.<br /></div></div> First thing in the morning on the way to Caesarea, we had a worship service on the bus with Dr. Stone leading us in some songs. After the music, several of the students did a dramatic reading of 1 Kings 18 which is the story of Elijah having a showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. After the reading, Dr. Richter shared a few thoughts on the passage. The reason for picking this passage is that our next stop after the aqueducts was the Muraqa Sanctuary and Monastery.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkRUwfaS5_fIhcCy_cnMj0BLcC1AP5Y2gZOluOWVYw9Mm1jpV_jRAY1fAU02YYMJFw3qw6P3_bSJJRNtJyc5nYqV41w8iwrbHYV4hgPWxWItA8utiESACwfCpxO8L08mIPwc07UUd2SKg/s1600/IMG_2762.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkRUwfaS5_fIhcCy_cnMj0BLcC1AP5Y2gZOluOWVYw9Mm1jpV_jRAY1fAU02YYMJFw3qw6P3_bSJJRNtJyc5nYqV41w8iwrbHYV4hgPWxWItA8utiESACwfCpxO8L08mIPwc07UUd2SKg/s320/IMG_2762.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487546385779572626" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A view of the Jezreel Valley as seen from the top of Mt. Carmel<br /><br /></span></div> This monastery is located at the top of Mount Carmel and is located at the traditional place of Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal. The first thing I noticed is that Mount Camel isn’t as tall in real life as it is in my mind. If we had not been able to take the bus up there but rather walk it instead, I’m sure I would have a slightly different opinion of this. But still, I expected it to be much taller than it is. The second thing I noticed is that you can see most of the Jezreel valley from up there. The topographical maps I have show this, but it’s far more dramatic in real life. It was quite impressive. Seeing the location of this even really makes it more real to me. The story just seemed to come alive to me when I was up there. Other sites have helped me have a better appreciation for the events that took place on or near there, but this one was really dramatic for me. Having read the full Biblical account ahead of time probably didn’t hurt either.<br /><br />Driving down the road, we stopped for a moment so Dr. Rasmussen could point out to us a well preserved rolling stone grave. We didn't get out of a bus, but here's a picture I took<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvn-kwiNk9BkccmSO34rO8fvXEszrBOoeRTBmFG4n-sEineFxAZxEIJ_1OjHzQlOD26d8z4Y8eU-5nTCOaiobblXAG7-CbnQbsbH5-d_xdJ78-_QUH2BY6pzychhkvqwm7PmLD9p5E9FI/s1600/IMG_2778.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvn-kwiNk9BkccmSO34rO8fvXEszrBOoeRTBmFG4n-sEineFxAZxEIJ_1OjHzQlOD26d8z4Y8eU-5nTCOaiobblXAG7-CbnQbsbH5-d_xdJ78-_QUH2BY6pzychhkvqwm7PmLD9p5E9FI/s320/IMG_2778.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487550350783436738" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We visited Megiddo. The main highlight there for me was seeing an actual manger that would be similar to what Mary would have laid Jesus in. I've included a picture for those who are curious...<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8eK_VD2IoqYDgVvZySmJqU4vOsnayL0s2CuQD_7YISvhf-JCCbKZRomRmFqtG4-6GqZeKhutKLpLODXxJnjmt4P5WsRPle67Fmwlpu7bYUR32KKWphNxxGCHWAsKWduJ06ZYA6AB3EF0/s1600/IMG_2809.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8eK_VD2IoqYDgVvZySmJqU4vOsnayL0s2CuQD_7YISvhf-JCCbKZRomRmFqtG4-6GqZeKhutKLpLODXxJnjmt4P5WsRPle67Fmwlpu7bYUR32KKWphNxxGCHWAsKWduJ06ZYA6AB3EF0/s320/IMG_2809.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487550358771136018" border="0" /></a><br /><br />After a failed attempt to visit Arbel (the park had already closed by the time we got there) we went ahead and drove over to Tiberius. Tiberius is one of the cities located on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. They have a nice overlook that gives a great view of most of the Sea and it also happens to be almost directly across the Sea of Galilee from where we’re staying at night. This allowed us to get a brief preview of the resort at En Gev at which we would be staying. The first thing that really struck me about the Sea of Galilee is just how small it is. I knew it wasn’t huge, but it’s still smaller than I had anticipated. A more appropriate name for it is probably the Lake of Galilee, but I’m no expert on that.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHCemzodvOtQUfJa9aqE_VZF1E4YhDCvAFMTee63lW3Qt_7ngMwH4BSFgYVIZl-VsYw7Vt8ok48CMFk8uvNYkIMdK891C6ztuZYyZaPiSO0SI1vJqqCWZbmGwkmdKfwzmSllu9FRg3Hck/s1600/IMG_2825.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHCemzodvOtQUfJa9aqE_VZF1E4YhDCvAFMTee63lW3Qt_7ngMwH4BSFgYVIZl-VsYw7Vt8ok48CMFk8uvNYkIMdK891C6ztuZYyZaPiSO0SI1vJqqCWZbmGwkmdKfwzmSllu9FRg3Hck/s320/IMG_2825.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487550367681914514" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The Sea of Galilee as seen from an overlook at Tiberius<br /></span></div>The resort we are staying at in En Gev was the biggest surprise of the day for me. Dr. Rasmussen had told us that it was a nice location on the Sea of Galilee, but his brief description did not do it justice. The bungalow Jeremy, Sam, and I are staying in is as close to the shore as you can get here.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaWM18-NIsOG0k112V4hf3T2UaQmB7j22Vss4RmQGytPJrhhZNIEUKZHFF0PSOL19NeqUo32xOrGQ2F4swoD2fMjaS-ipcbjpdGAdGsUilqzKcg_lGmkybcP4nWW7DthoORfMa5Zu-1Tc/s1600/IMG_2842.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaWM18-NIsOG0k112V4hf3T2UaQmB7j22Vss4RmQGytPJrhhZNIEUKZHFF0PSOL19NeqUo32xOrGQ2F4swoD2fMjaS-ipcbjpdGAdGsUilqzKcg_lGmkybcP4nWW7DthoORfMa5Zu-1Tc/s320/IMG_2842.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487550380792849730" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> My bungalow at En Gev. Good old number 104!<br /></span></div><br /> It’s a 30 second walk from our door to the water. Even better, the resort faces west which means we saw the sun setting over the Sea of Galilee. To top it off, towards the end of the sunset, some of us went swimming so we we’re swimming in the Sea of Galilee watching the sun slowly drop below the mountains on the other side. It was the most amazing sight I’ve seen yet in Israel. As I sit here writing this, I’m sitting just above the beach listening to the waves lap at the shore staring off into the lights of Tiberius on the other side. I feel like I could stay here forever. I’m so glad we get to spend three nights here!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyrLPnX8XpTZqmpYpIhu7mM6158LtpRf2EK3Nib-3s-mLE5Sw76bqgosgVNEAAZyE94hpIYMYMRqwIAj7keQoA0cRdRRp6ektwaxSUwEHnIlqFCEnSk2o0e5Eci-iZ6LwUbXpAwaeddeo/s1600/IMG_2837.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyrLPnX8XpTZqmpYpIhu7mM6158LtpRf2EK3Nib-3s-mLE5Sw76bqgosgVNEAAZyE94hpIYMYMRqwIAj7keQoA0cRdRRp6ektwaxSUwEHnIlqFCEnSk2o0e5Eci-iZ6LwUbXpAwaeddeo/s320/IMG_2837.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487550378290540674" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Sunset over the Sea of Galilee<br /></span></div>dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-31140437749967267152010-06-26T12:45:00.005-04:002010-06-26T14:32:23.809-04:00Israel Day 11 and 12: Free day, studying, test, homework, and free time!Yesterday (Friday) was a free day for our class, which means it's time to study for the test the next morning. Before studying though, we got to go on a field trip that Dr. Richter had arranged for us. I'm not quite sure who initiated it, but we were invited to Hebrew Union College to go on a private tour of the Skirball Museum. When I inquired the day before what was at the museum, Dr. Richter replied, "Old stuff!" That's good enough for me, so off we went to the Skirball Museum.<br />Either we're getting a bit more used to walking up and down hills, or the walk was not as bad as expected because we arrived 20 minutes early.<br /><br />The Museum did indeed contain lots of old stuff. They had quite a few artifacts (mainly potter) from Tel Dan, Tel Gezer, and Tel Aroer. I was excited to see some real pottery up close and personal. At almost every antiquities site we've been too, we've seen scads of pottery shards, but alas no full pottery pieces. Whatever little museums may be attached to the sites typically have only contained reproductions. It was awesome to see so many jars, vessels, and other pieces made out of pottery. They even had a bathtub and a pottery sarcophagus! The best part was that we could touch just about everything. The professor who led our tour commented that it was all just rock and fired pottery. The only way we could really damage any of it is if we smashed it.<br /><br />The tour of the Skirball museum was Skirballrific, but it wasn't long before studying for the upcoming test became a priority. It's hard to believe that it was only on Monday that I was sitting down to take a test. I'd love to say studying was fun, but it's still studying so...<br /><br />A group of us had planned to take a study break after supper (I know, supper is also a study break) and head to the Wailing Wall to see what it was like just before the beginning of Shabbat. We had been told it was worth the time to go see all of the people gathering to worship, pray, and celebrate the beginning of Shabbat. We made it there about 7:45 (45 minutes or so before sundown) and it was pretty packed. There was a heavy military presence, but many of them seemed to be there to also celebrate. We made our way over to the wall that separates the rest of the area from the Western Wall to watch what was going on. We stopped at the women's side first because we heard a lot of singing. Groups of women were standing in circles dancing and singing very jubilantly. It sounded beautiful and was an awesome sight to watch. After a few minutes, we wandered over to the men's side to watch the happenings. Two guys were being carried around on shoulders and the rest of the activity closely mirrored what was happening on the other side. It was like one big worship party!<br /><br />Two things I found really fascinating were watching what the men were wearing, and watching the teenagers and young adults. There was a wide range in the clothing the men wore from jeans and t-shirts to suits and hats to even fancier clothes. Some guys looked like they were wearing black silk bathrobes. I joked that I needed a field guide to understand what different outfits mean. Really though, it's not totally a joke. I think I need to do some more reading on modern Judaism.<br /><br />The young people were really interesting to watch. It seemed that they were at a major social event. In reality, they were. After all, many of us find church to be a social event. It was just surprising to see "kids" who were 18 and 19 standing there in clothing that is fairly western, but with semi-automatic weapons slung over one shoulder.<br /><br />After a trip to the Western Wall, it was time to mosey back to JUC and get back to studying. After class and our test today, I did a little bit of homework, took a nap, and then went to the Old City with Joel Bonner to wander around and buy some snacks for our next trip. We each got a variety of dried fruit and enjoyed looking in the various shops. It's so cool to only be a 10 minute walk (if I'm taking my time) from the Old City. It'll be nice to have a lot of next weekend to shop and explore it some more.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-73956322423048874022010-06-25T13:51:00.004-04:002010-06-25T14:20:03.867-04:00Israel Day 10: Masada, The Dead Sea, En Gedi, and Qumran<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwVVizIlFooBZAkiNUd7qfvj8Lt3s81BLkbKLM5M3tU45L8Rv_xg4dDhe1IVk2kcuQaDQCNF5dbeQbDQXAtyGyjvzcWOTSqZ6TIblXtLYLUqrnRb-KDjDbO3cdeAWPn2XNAKi0-haL08/s1600/IMG_2575.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbwTOjlISoPKsxnJMIWXmkIAvAKwdEx8XL_9GsZCiVPbMmJVCSUGYMeHCsSjZtTjq8bpEUc-Ck13KxBcYsWYyVTCK2aDIWR5JW0Uims7Gy-7yDVDv-d2CcNor43X74QF4lQsSJVq48xI/s1600/IMG_2554.JPG"><br /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJT_S7XiAz6EVGvjylg0ATte20G37XfnjkE3GR2HNOR3HSiySXXd-ewKILZpvnJusNzrKGG3vaEE3X1XfMM7Sb2DabNsJfZDJE5d_3RuXpuD2CyqHZDGyXCGbRr4C9JVIJoFrY__wJ04A/s1600/IMG_2543.JPG"><br /></a><br />Here is my impression report from the last day of our trip to the southern part of Israel.<br /><br />I was unsure of what to expect from Masada. I didn’t really know anything about it, but I had heard the name some both in the required map work for this course as well as in reference to a tough hike. One of the t-shirts I’ve seen for sale all over the place is “I climbed Masada,” or some variation of that. This intimidated me, or at least it did until the wadi walk the day before. After that climb, I felt like I could handle anything thrown at me for this trip. Or, at least that’s how I felt until I saw the siege ramp we would be walking up. It was quite a bit bigger and steeper than I had expected. Thankfully, the path we took is on the side of the siege ramp and has steps built into it. This may be the first time I was actually thankful to see stairs in Israel because they meant that I didn’t have to scamper up that steep incline.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtSYGQak9Nrdv9UW2scMsnki6FDiSQWsFe-liuUPJkNNhI-KIHTcmawjn1olcH49I2g2TitRhH1_ZGIL5hmwkbSOhW2AkBZbTN1YoelWz2g0xZliGLAlHXJ6IsEV4AvGVhtE6xnpHy5LQ/s1600/IMG_2408.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtSYGQak9Nrdv9UW2scMsnki6FDiSQWsFe-liuUPJkNNhI-KIHTcmawjn1olcH49I2g2TitRhH1_ZGIL5hmwkbSOhW2AkBZbTN1YoelWz2g0xZliGLAlHXJ6IsEV4AvGVhtE6xnpHy5LQ/s320/IMG_2408.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486774364326982050" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">See the tiny white line on the left side of the giant mound of dirt? That's our path up to Masada. The giant mound of dirt is the original Roman siege ramp completed in 73AD<br /></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">The hike up ended up being easier than I expected, although it was still immensely tiring. At the top, I was greeted with a fantastic view of the surrounding area, a beautiful antiquities site, and most importantly some shade and a bottle of Coke! I had questioned the wisdom of carrying up a bottle of coke with me, but I’m glad I did. It was a great way to celebrate my success. The first thing I really noticed about Masada was just how nice it is. Most of the antiquities sites we’ve visited up to this point don’t receive a lot of visitors and it’s mostly just a bunch of remains from archaeological digs. There’s typically been some work done to give us a better idea of what the site originally looked like, but this usually involves just adding a few courses of stones to the walls or repairing an arch that is falling down. Masada is different.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfw-IAiHWldsRdp1uwMgU35v9TyTY2I94lGgPizG1Tgg1ZTQj3EKcGcIfRf0RT39P-QtujStqOHwFxrCtvL-FJD_GifhvpMC5LGuE9oFRivaoAhSAHM9KaV1FM83kcnDa9JgiPHNGFdrU/s1600/IMG_2488.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfw-IAiHWldsRdp1uwMgU35v9TyTY2I94lGgPizG1Tgg1ZTQj3EKcGcIfRf0RT39P-QtujStqOHwFxrCtvL-FJD_GifhvpMC5LGuE9oFRivaoAhSAHM9KaV1FM83kcnDa9JgiPHNGFdrU/s320/IMG_2488.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486774370138380002" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Me standing on the lower tier of Herod's Northern Palace at Masada. The pillars behind me are partly reconstruction. Originally they were solid marble.<br /></span></div><br /><br />There has been a lot more work put into it. There’s various models scattered around the site to help explain different areas of the site. There’s plenty of nicely shaded areas under which we could gather so that Dr. Rasmussen could explain things to us. I understand that this site is very important to many people, and it showed. While we were there, I saw at least one worship service going on, and I think I saw a Bar-Mitzvah starting up. It was just nice to visit an antiquities site that was so nice, and that you could access by other means besides walking up and down large hills or sets of stairs. The cable car ride down was most excellent!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvX8PYoBzvCQTac1aQLvGFlUIWhVune9QkBGenj7vYCqvgN4345sSNxaL7kcG7AaV2wEBhKAEh0ZhBzIfq0r35HmtZBIoc3mlEyIApgGsvuA2MVXcT9RbnqS_ZWNR169Ssm17uxzbAFag/s1600/IMG_2512.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvX8PYoBzvCQTac1aQLvGFlUIWhVune9QkBGenj7vYCqvgN4345sSNxaL7kcG7AaV2wEBhKAEh0ZhBzIfq0r35HmtZBIoc3mlEyIApgGsvuA2MVXcT9RbnqS_ZWNR169Ssm17uxzbAFag/s320/IMG_2512.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486774374829035682" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">An aerial view of the Snake Path leading down from Masada. The people in the picture are all from my group. I was riding comfortably in the cable car overhead...</span><br /></div><br />After Masada, we got back on the bus to head off to an activity I had really been looking forward to: swimming in the Dead Sea. We were only given about 15-20 minutes to swim in it, but we were told this would be more than enough time. I was doubtful about this just because I love to swim. I had forgotten that Dr. Richter had described swimming in the Dead Sea as, “Swimming in Italian salad dressing.” She was not kidding. It was an incredibly bizarre feeling. And the density of the water made it so easy to float that I actually got tired of laying there after a few minutes. Not to mention that the high salt content found a couple of small cuts and scraps on my arms and legs I didn’t realize I had. It was a great experience though, and I’m glad we got the opportunity to try it out.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GgEhFKmAoIYkPuBB-GwylMCKv3w1a0gtgRl-pKSW1OY6ntaP1aE70zu4-HD1mnj6_i2fgo3kyxrJ-7TC2iqflAxnz0PhpX2-s457IWRPnxmzbNoI61qC5azhKKPk6TSIp6Kt9z26278/s1600/IMG_2533.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7GgEhFKmAoIYkPuBB-GwylMCKv3w1a0gtgRl-pKSW1OY6ntaP1aE70zu4-HD1mnj6_i2fgo3kyxrJ-7TC2iqflAxnz0PhpX2-s457IWRPnxmzbNoI61qC5azhKKPk6TSIp6Kt9z26278/s320/IMG_2533.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486774384346256642" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;">A group of us swimming at the dead sea. I'm the one with the floppy hat and the shirt. No sunburn here!<br /></span></div><br />As awesome as this was, I couldn’t wait to get to En Gedi. Dr. Richter had told me it was one of her favorite places in Israel. En Gedi is an oasis in the middle of what is mostly desert. Granted, the Dead Sea is nearby, but its water is not potable. Walking along a dry dusty wadi and suddenly stumbling upon this oasis was amazing. We had been in the desert for several days at this point. Granted, we had experienced the water at En Avdad and the Dead Sea, but En Gedi was something else entirely. There were lush plants everywhere, and the number of birds singing was nothing short of incredible.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJT_S7XiAz6EVGvjylg0ATte20G37XfnjkE3GR2HNOR3HSiySXXd-ewKILZpvnJusNzrKGG3vaEE3X1XfMM7Sb2DabNsJfZDJE5d_3RuXpuD2CyqHZDGyXCGbRr4C9JVIJoFrY__wJ04A/s1600/IMG_2543.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJT_S7XiAz6EVGvjylg0ATte20G37XfnjkE3GR2HNOR3HSiySXXd-ewKILZpvnJusNzrKGG3vaEE3X1XfMM7Sb2DabNsJfZDJE5d_3RuXpuD2CyqHZDGyXCGbRr4C9JVIJoFrY__wJ04A/s320/IMG_2543.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486774388900408322" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Some of the waterfalls cascading down near the entrance of En Gedi<br /></span></div><br /> The most amazing part to me were all of the waterfalls and pools of water that you could swim in. And this is all in the middle of the desert. I understand why David hid from Saul here. I’d be willing to make up people to hide from if it meant I could spend time there. If there is one location in Israel that I’d like to revisit, this is it. It was absolutely stunning.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbwTOjlISoPKsxnJMIWXmkIAvAKwdEx8XL_9GsZCiVPbMmJVCSUGYMeHCsSjZtTjq8bpEUc-Ck13KxBcYsWYyVTCK2aDIWR5JW0Uims7Gy-7yDVDv-d2CcNor43X74QF4lQsSJVq48xI/s1600/IMG_2554.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqbwTOjlISoPKsxnJMIWXmkIAvAKwdEx8XL_9GsZCiVPbMmJVCSUGYMeHCsSjZtTjq8bpEUc-Ck13KxBcYsWYyVTCK2aDIWR5JW0Uims7Gy-7yDVDv-d2CcNor43X74QF4lQsSJVq48xI/s320/IMG_2554.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486775596443859714" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Two of the waterfalls at En Gedi<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />The visit to Qumran was interesting and I enjoyed the video that explained a little bit about how the Essenes lived. The problem with the visit to this site was purely that my mind was still in En Gedi. I was struck by just how high up the caves the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in were. I expected them to be more on ground level. The hike from those caves down to the antiquities site seems pretty extreme. They were some tough guys!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwVVizIlFooBZAkiNUd7qfvj8Lt3s81BLkbKLM5M3tU45L8Rv_xg4dDhe1IVk2kcuQaDQCNF5dbeQbDQXAtyGyjvzcWOTSqZ6TIblXtLYLUqrnRb-KDjDbO3cdeAWPn2XNAKi0-haL08/s1600/IMG_2575.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcwVVizIlFooBZAkiNUd7qfvj8Lt3s81BLkbKLM5M3tU45L8Rv_xg4dDhe1IVk2kcuQaDQCNF5dbeQbDQXAtyGyjvzcWOTSqZ6TIblXtLYLUqrnRb-KDjDbO3cdeAWPn2XNAKi0-haL08/s320/IMG_2575.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486775605210439746" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Cave #4 where a lot of small pieces of scroll were found<br /><br /></span></div>The last thing that really left an impression on me is just how much like home JUC has become. My thought during the last part of the day was that I just wanted to get back home to JUC so I could rest and relax a bit.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-17157822060431685732010-06-25T06:54:00.008-04:002010-06-25T10:31:18.919-04:00Israel Day 10: En Avdat, Avdat,Arad, and beyond!Here's my impression report from the second day of our three day expedition to the southern part of Israel.<br /><br /> One of the first surprises I encountered this morning was breakfast at the youth hostel in Mitzpe Ramon. I’ve been joking with friends that a required part of breakfast here seems to be either scrambled or hard boiled eggs. For breakfast, we had both. This leads me to wonder if eggs are a traditional part of Israeli breakfast, or if they’re trying to cater to Americans. It’s just an observation that I’ve made. I’ll be curious to see what we have for breakfast in Galilee.One of the first surprises I encountered this morning was breakfast at the youth hostel in Mitzpe Ramon. I’ve been joking with friends that a required part of breakfast here seems to be either scrambled or hard boiled eggs. For breakfast, we had both. This leads me to wonder if eggs are a traditional part of Israeli breakfast, or if they’re trying to cater to Americans. It’s just an observation that I’ve made. I’ll be curious to see what we have for breakfast in Galilee.<br /><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">There were two major events today that I really enjoyed was going to the visitors center at Mitzpe Ramon. I had been wondering how the Big Machtesh was formed. The video they showed really helped to explain it. It also helps to give me a greater appreciation for the geological forces at work. It was also nice to go up to the observation decks at the visitors center to get a better view of the surroundings. The armillary sphere sundial was also awesome to see. I really enjoy science, especially astronomy and chemistry. The opportunity to see such an intricate sundial was a real joy for me. I spent more time looking at that than the Big Machtesh. I need to spend some more time reading about this type of sundial.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYGpK3FZwvlqrKYGCgKQ5ooqihz8sHNTiZL9f3PZQ8vxRYL1k446to4wZAtyk28alrELUmyQXXB17TP6ieizc8B3rCByzNHaOBQIxlgNL1J7h13bZigBNiN0BwiJqfP6OPQYJLWilEYfg/s1600/IMG_2165.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYGpK3FZwvlqrKYGCgKQ5ooqihz8sHNTiZL9f3PZQ8vxRYL1k446to4wZAtyk28alrELUmyQXXB17TP6ieizc8B3rCByzNHaOBQIxlgNL1J7h13bZigBNiN0BwiJqfP6OPQYJLWilEYfg/s320/IMG_2165.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486713898815819314" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Amillary Sphere Sundial</span><br /> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The biggest highlight for me today was doing the wadi walk through En Avdat. Dr. Rasmussen had warned us that the second half of the hike was pretty tough, but beautiful. I was worried about completing the hike, but I wanted to give it a go. When we first walked into the wadi, I was impressed with just how high the walls towered above us, and how much plant life there was in a location that was essentially desert. I know that the desert supports a lot of life, but this was beyond what I’d seen before. We even got to see a small lizard briefly. As we walked along, we came upon a small stream of water. Even though I knew to expect water, it was still a surprise because of the amount of water.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZ0tmZqso8mO6lKRJ8QTzhomvfzD1_x79R5yUEKnIxV8xeD3mngS5BVRZ2A2bz-4t9l9ggtNHHDlp1WxgVXi4ZIVDdqRRMsEO6mRcQgv6X9YiwpfpE2vex56-vQErYQ79GfDrkFLHXNo/s1600/IMG_2226.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzZ0tmZqso8mO6lKRJ8QTzhomvfzD1_x79R5yUEKnIxV8xeD3mngS5BVRZ2A2bz-4t9l9ggtNHHDlp1WxgVXi4ZIVDdqRRMsEO6mRcQgv6X9YiwpfpE2vex56-vQErYQ79GfDrkFLHXNo/s320/IMG_2226.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486713906916931474" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">One of the first pools we encountered in the wadi.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">As we continued to walk up steam, we encountered larger and larger pools of water and eventually we came upon a waterfall. It just seems crazy to see a waterfall in the middle of the wadi. It was at this point that I realized that our only options were to turn around, or to start climbing up. The only problem for me was that they only ascent I had noticed was a terrifyingly narrow set of steps. What was really impressive to me is that I kept seeing ibex scat all over the walls of the wadi. I knew in theory that ibex are capable of climbing up very steep terrain, but I didn’t expect them to climb terrain that steep. It almost makes me think that they have duct tape on their feet to allow them to do this.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEKaLGR5VLwtSAPDjA8oekl4VFY54BrVRJoH307gOsc6Fz0Yjz8n-9mllrTDwEzcTadE_tqqNgNrg4p9_kJAsxKz5vkRMrFoOeAQnGq8JcitALEFhBXHAHHxbMBsj1N4c0tlXuXs6UsU/s1600/IMG_2239.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihEKaLGR5VLwtSAPDjA8oekl4VFY54BrVRJoH307gOsc6Fz0Yjz8n-9mllrTDwEzcTadE_tqqNgNrg4p9_kJAsxKz5vkRMrFoOeAQnGq8JcitALEFhBXHAHHxbMBsj1N4c0tlXuXs6UsU/s320/IMG_2239.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486713915134907410" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">The steps we took up to the top of the wadi are just to the right of this photo.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">About half way up the climb, I took some time to pop into a cave that monks used to live in. They would have lived in these caves before there were the nice steps, handles, and ladders built into the wall of the wadi. The cave itself was just two rooms with one much smaller than the other. They both smelled strongly of ibex. Some people didn’t appreciate the smell, but it reminded me of the goats at the zoo. I’m a fan of the smell.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OnQgrk_2Uhzh1GUM6-cpg7e3XUZ-yd0Nvq_lNw2hO3jwwMO0Dspsm5ClR7oLfR25PR5GKLD7j78Kuru4pzqig8kaQwhL3NqPfnXUC09bMX-hH-dOYUFmfSKZvnLlbC4rMTvHWbGc9IM/s1600/IMG_2270.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-OnQgrk_2Uhzh1GUM6-cpg7e3XUZ-yd0Nvq_lNw2hO3jwwMO0Dspsm5ClR7oLfR25PR5GKLD7j78Kuru4pzqig8kaQwhL3NqPfnXUC09bMX-hH-dOYUFmfSKZvnLlbC4rMTvHWbGc9IM/s320/IMG_2270.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486713924614886434" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> A view of the inside of the larger of the two rooms in the cave.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">I asked Dr. Stone about the whole monk living in a cave thing and he gave me a good brief overview of why it was so popular. I had no idea that it was as popular as it was. He said it was not unusual for someone to have to wait several years for a cave to open it up. He described it as a form of “Extreme Spirituality.” He also pointed out that holiness living isn’t quite as hard when you’re living in a cave in the side of a wadi in the middle of a desert. It was all very enlightening, and I can almost see the appeal of this kind of extended spiritual retreat. Almost.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOUMSwJhJMfC4Ftvn1q6_TghpBI5d58r6FBKQ7VCbakfTYQ22VjFYlIm71Vo7Z-dddj_3Ce7bSEdu4VAuzAHqUkOMb4WR4a7IWuerR2bbQqlvgLKhtCJqV9uXLGkXGcQlkq3ftJQY5h5w/s1600/IMG_2274.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOUMSwJhJMfC4Ftvn1q6_TghpBI5d58r6FBKQ7VCbakfTYQ22VjFYlIm71Vo7Z-dddj_3Ce7bSEdu4VAuzAHqUkOMb4WR4a7IWuerR2bbQqlvgLKhtCJqV9uXLGkXGcQlkq3ftJQY5h5w/s320/IMG_2274.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486713934409454178" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">A view from inside a monk's cave looking out into the wadi. This is about half way to the top of the wadi.</span><br /> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"> While some people were prepping lunch, I decided to walk over to Ben Gurion’s tomb since we were already there. Sadly, I never made it to the tomb. The reason is that we encountered a bunch of ibex. I spent some time photographing them and watching them, and decided to move on. And then I found a large ram with massive horns, so of course I stayed and watched him for a few minutes. Just a little further down the path, I found two females and their babies. I sat down on a rock to watch them and the babies slowly came closer to me over a period of about ten minutes. The moms did not seem happy about this, but they allowed it. They got within about five feet of me and posed wonderfully for the camera. It was awesome! At this point, I was perfectly prepared to skip supper and enjoy the wildlife. Unfortunately, a man from another group came walking down the path making a lot of noise and startled them. At that point, staying would have been a lost cause. It was awesome while it lasted though!<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7bCp3Sb_ME6yqiSL3lvyw2l-44N9rDNnPLmDyPe0ApWIgNGApG4Ym5LWXwmelikeUIan6PaeCI1NtaWSde-FIS4uFKKtFDUuupFTsmP8aUnR77H_oUlMqCBsDcSWbzOuWd6G9ZHiUCfs/s1600/IMG_2347.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7bCp3Sb_ME6yqiSL3lvyw2l-44N9rDNnPLmDyPe0ApWIgNGApG4Ym5LWXwmelikeUIan6PaeCI1NtaWSde-FIS4uFKKtFDUuupFTsmP8aUnR77H_oUlMqCBsDcSWbzOuWd6G9ZHiUCfs/s320/IMG_2347.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486715185187498514" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Two young ibex. Their mothers are up above them but watching me warily.</span><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">The youth hostel we stayed at in Arad was really nice. It even had a square in the middle with lots of beautiful plants. The food was exceptional and served family style. Sitting there eating such delicious food with several friends was a great experience. It was one of the biggest highlights of the whole trip for me! After supper, a group of us enjoyed exploring a little bit of Arad. We stumbled upon the bakery that Dr. Rasmussen had ordered our pitas from for the next day. We went inside, and found some fantastic pastries. Four shekels got me a cheese filled pastry and an apple filled pastry. They were fantastic. After that, we found the mall and wandered around it for a few minutes. It confirmed my opinion of malls. No matter where they are, they just don’t appeal to me. But, it was fun walking around a new city and seeing where the residents of that community shop. It was an exhausting, but fantastic day.<br /><br /></p>dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-48341356031860677312010-06-24T15:26:00.003-04:002010-06-24T15:44:03.038-04:00Israel Day 9: Visitng the Negev<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3snpHM7kpmdfG_jXqXPWSGTiMgbQbmY41FBMdPfa3geJj6SBHIoJ-fdaBpoY-UXLHho1-MdtRShaIDsmuum9ZSobZ40LWDvdKvou9xAetRKB-Mylqkx8YjHm_aCxYMqSxOTb87GhTySk/s1600/IMG_1999.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3snpHM7kpmdfG_jXqXPWSGTiMgbQbmY41FBMdPfa3geJj6SBHIoJ-fdaBpoY-UXLHho1-MdtRShaIDsmuum9ZSobZ40LWDvdKvou9xAetRKB-Mylqkx8YjHm_aCxYMqSxOTb87GhTySk/s320/IMG_1999.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486426950861375682" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">We stopped at a well preserved underground tomb. I don't remember the name of the location. This tomb has been restored with fresh plaster and paint.<br /></span></div><br />We have spent the past three days traveling around the "deep south" of Israel. In that time, we visited the Negev, Mitzpe Ramon, the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Ashkelon, and all the way to the Dead Sea near En Gedi and Qumran. Below is my impression report from the first day (June 22). I'll post reports for the other days sometime tomorrow.<br /><br /><br /><br />One thing that I really enjoyed today was listening to Dr. Rasmussen discuss possible locations in the Elah Valley for the David and Goliath event. Not only did he discuss a couple of the possible locations, but we were able to see them. I have never really read Bible stories before and even really thought about the geography that is integral to these events. It had not occurred to me that the there are some clues given that can help locate a probable location of the event. It was also helpful to discuss why the location we had been instructed to mark on our map may not be the correct location. It was also fascinating to see just how far apart the opposing forces may have been. To have to yell and taunt across such a distance is quite impressive.<br /><br />Lachish was interesting to me because I really didn’t know much about the location or the events that had transpired there. I had heard the name before a few times, but I couldn’t remember just why it was so important. It was fascinating to learn about how this location was such a poster child for Biblical archaeology. The fact that there is such a preponderance of evidence from not only different literary sources but from the archaeology itself is quite impressive. All of these various sources really come together to give an excellent view of the event. It was also amazing to me just how many pottery shards were on the ground. Dr. Richter had commented the week before about all of the pottery shards we were walking on, and all I saw were different rocks. After she spent a little bit of time explaining what to look for, they practically jumped out at me. It was fun to pick up various pieces of ancient pottery and look at them. It was even more awesome when she could tell us what part of a vessel it was such as the mouth, side, bottom, or handle piece. It’s amazing what you can learn from small pieces of pottery.<br /><br />One of my favorite parts of the day was the visit to Ashkelon. I knew it was near the Mediterranean Sea, but I somehow missed that it was right there at the shore of it. I was excited about this for several reasons. First, I was pretty hungry and it was lunch time. Secondly, I figured it would be cooler that close to the water. Thankfully, this was the case. Thirdly, I had not been to the Mediterranean Sea before and I really wanted to swim in it. Sadly, this was not possible due to dangerous water conditions, but at least we still got to splash our feet in it. I enjoyed listening to Dr. Richter give a short talk on the archaeological dig process. The fact that she was doing this while we stood in front of an active dig site made it even more interesting. I also really enjoyed getting to see the massive gate up close. We had talked in class about how the Philistines used mud bricks in their construction. I was thrilled to get to see some original mud bricks up close. It’s hard to believe that these were all made by hand.<br /><br />After visiting the antiquities for a little while, it was refreshing to be able to just walk down the beach and walk through a little bit of the surf. I really enjoyed getting to see some dead jelly fish. This may sound a bit morbid, but it was cool. The reason is that these jellyfish looked rather different from those that I’ve seen in Florida. They had much shorter tentacles. I need to look up what varieties occur in the Mediterranean Sea. I also enjoyed looking at the various seashells along the shore. The reason for this is that the shells were different from what I’ve seen in Florida and in Washington State. They tended to all be fairly small and quite uniform one to another. They were different sizes and colors, but they were mainly all the same shape.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZJKpi5bsDTbGCcgcYuw1HtYwGE1oaKs01ubaQk3nXbiaqXZDkp9yWuZT3Rd0SyhVfABRXSWzASy7hi28ihfSM-2gERTyPWUqcLTS3ecUCMQUn_SvjXh-RBiZCzS0OMag2Lw04J0XJXU/s1600/IMG_2076.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDZJKpi5bsDTbGCcgcYuw1HtYwGE1oaKs01ubaQk3nXbiaqXZDkp9yWuZT3Rd0SyhVfABRXSWzASy7hi28ihfSM-2gERTyPWUqcLTS3ecUCMQUn_SvjXh-RBiZCzS0OMag2Lw04J0XJXU/s320/IMG_2076.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486426961157480482" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This is standing on an overlook above the beach. We walked down to the beach later. Notice the how dirty the shirt is from crawling into a tomb. It might also be because I ate some ice cream that dripped...<br /></span></div>The biggest highlight for me was when we arrived at the youth hostel in Mitzpe Ramon. I was expecting to be in a room with 12 other guys and that we’d have to use a communal bathroom two floors down. Instead, we were treated to having just three guys in a room with a private bathroom, air conditioning, and cable TV. This is far beyond what I had envisioned. On top of this, we were at an absolutely beautiful location at the Big Machtesh. I was not prepared for how large this thing is. It reminded me of looking down into the Grand Canyon. It was absolutely stunning.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MqvO5jkrDtH46PUqwpN_2d2A4Bsn7-kiGTLYyH7wx7kdXp815cooZPGEgX6VigXwtN2yPlSnS97L9-qynwepP7fygUKrpl-xmfzyLMpa0GZMmor9AAuIWIf-7cuKsSsNCpPsSJISmQw/s1600/IMG_2087.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0MqvO5jkrDtH46PUqwpN_2d2A4Bsn7-kiGTLYyH7wx7kdXp815cooZPGEgX6VigXwtN2yPlSnS97L9-qynwepP7fygUKrpl-xmfzyLMpa0GZMmor9AAuIWIf-7cuKsSsNCpPsSJISmQw/s320/IMG_2087.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486426976301192866" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A view of the Big Machtesh. This is also sometimes called the Super Bowl.<br /></span></div><br />The last highlight of the day for me was walking through the town looking for the small grocery store. We finally found it, and were surprised at all the packed into there. One person described it as a “mini WalMart.” It was fun to spend some time exploring a small town outside of Jerusalem and see what all was there. As an added bonus, it was a great way to enjoy the cooler temperatures of the evening!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyvldhyphenhyphenPGzlBcqxy6ulSdViZRjrVYnFq2kF9vKX-4cRiaceXhQN2dpHZZkkWVLgKaJmNu-Q0tRdp5PWmxBdAnYtEQKOZax7kH4KCQFKIb_qQdVGjp7V8A2UIf30Z0BrJLsodZlu-9q2vI/s1600/IMG_2116.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyvldhyphenhyphenPGzlBcqxy6ulSdViZRjrVYnFq2kF9vKX-4cRiaceXhQN2dpHZZkkWVLgKaJmNu-Q0tRdp5PWmxBdAnYtEQKOZax7kH4KCQFKIb_qQdVGjp7V8A2UIf30Z0BrJLsodZlu-9q2vI/s320/IMG_2116.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486426992118083618" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Me posing with some creepy statue located along a path the follows the rim of the Big Machtesh<br /></span></div><br />Over all this day far exceeded any of my expectations. I’m so thankful that for the opportunity to so many different locations from the Bible and to experience the beauty of the land God created.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7OJABzRR_51QADNYFWZwnXnUYg_bqJQ0uohpYf-wjZU3cuPT1BgezO-ovDU-veZdqsO_sKRyt7UyU1uw0eVP32E88hdtGyMC2FhLKEXHBN73QUtC7O2KgPUA7a6xIxihhy1J6HqoLhw/s1600/IMG_2096.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB7OJABzRR_51QADNYFWZwnXnUYg_bqJQ0uohpYf-wjZU3cuPT1BgezO-ovDU-veZdqsO_sKRyt7UyU1uw0eVP32E88hdtGyMC2FhLKEXHBN73QUtC7O2KgPUA7a6xIxihhy1J6HqoLhw/s320/IMG_2096.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486426982473927778" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Sunset over the Big Machtesh. This photo does not do it justice<br /></span></div>dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-79080520815429956982010-06-21T08:39:00.007-04:002010-06-21T09:15:45.788-04:00Israel Day 7: Free Day!Sunday was our first free day in Israel. A few of us had decided pretty early in the week that we wanted to go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for church that morning. For those who are wondering, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is located over what tradition holds are the locations of Jesus' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. I'll admit that I'm pretty convinced that Jesus was actually buried there. As for the crucifixion? I'm less sold on the idea as are a lot of other people. But that's all another topic for another day. Anywho, Dr. Richter decided she wanted to go since she had never been there for a service, so she organized a reasonably good sized group to go. We started off going to the Greek Orthodox service for a little bit, and then some of us started wandering around to see some of the other services taking place.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RHkHM6x-nkYWsy3WFkjL-rT_eXsf3fmuit9Iq_7_OI9hBRgJkbHGcye_CDlWColhH8LW1UtvyYhmwyBA8QGmLzMu2UmLnMsNxEPq0VH0E4lpT5K1oDvDpjXkuWgDOB5LsKZm1Psd16M/s1600/IMG_0676.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2RHkHM6x-nkYWsy3WFkjL-rT_eXsf3fmuit9Iq_7_OI9hBRgJkbHGcye_CDlWColhH8LW1UtvyYhmwyBA8QGmLzMu2UmLnMsNxEPq0VH0E4lpT5K1oDvDpjXkuWgDOB5LsKZm1Psd16M/s320/IMG_0676.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485210538852670626" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Greek Orthodox Service in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre<br /><br /></span></div>I stayed at the Greek Orthodox service for about 30 minutes before I had gotten tired of standing in one spot for so long. That particular service typically last about 3 hours. I had trouble focusing because this little old lady kept yelling at our group if we stood in front of her, sat too close to her, or made people move if any of her friends came so that they could sit closer to her. This was rather entertaining at first, but got old quickly. It made the whole service feel pretty unwelcoming. That's the primary reason I decided to wander.<br />After being there a little over an hour, a friend and I wondered around the Christian Quarter of the Old City. I got this wonderful pastry/bread thing that was fairly eggy and had little bits of chocolate in it. I'll get pictures of it at some point because it was awesome! Plus, you can find them everywhere in the Old City.<br /><br />A group of us met at 10 to do the rampart walk around the Old City. This is where you walk the ramparts of the wall from the Jaffa Gate all the way to where it runs into the Temple Mount. You can pick it up again near the Dung Gate, but we weren't motivated to continue further. It was interesting to see the city from such a different perspective.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8un8pP0Ofl1-07ROU-hYArvw2FaS1oTqNa2eo4yLnbaI62UBOgdkGddjJw0tNiIokxa1hDt40uPAaXTpTiTYHaUkm3KE8fgt4YG4EokmKgR-vCVYDE-WXP8cW8Y1X5f9yynr2Oy3kOlM/s1600/IMG_0695.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8un8pP0Ofl1-07ROU-hYArvw2FaS1oTqNa2eo4yLnbaI62UBOgdkGddjJw0tNiIokxa1hDt40uPAaXTpTiTYHaUkm3KE8fgt4YG4EokmKgR-vCVYDE-WXP8cW8Y1X5f9yynr2Oy3kOlM/s320/IMG_0695.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485211168770204978" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Me surveying West Jerusalem from a watch tower located on the ramparts of the Old City. This tower was built sometime during 1536-1541</span><br /><br /></div><br />Roughly 33,000 people live in the Old City, but you wouldn't really know it just walking around on the street level because you don't see many residences. You mainly see shops and other places of business. From the ramparts, however, you could see the back side of the buildings and see where people live. It was especially interesting to watch the transition between the Christian Quarter and the Muslim Quarter. The reason for this is that about 10,000 combined live in the Christian, Armenian, and Jewish Quarters. The remaining 23,000 people all live in the Muslim Quarter. That means that it is much more densely packed with people. You could really see this from the ramparts. From a perspective above the city, it was wall to wall buildings with a huge number of satellite dishes. It was unbelievable.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTZk3CWLOjdptI_ykdr2UlNQ0VCCqoWS1-ZG7jWRvNlVXuCoJMSUewsLHwcbF3ue3E4tRmNRyjZ7kk8opScnL-qSdVPC7ZOROPK653t_aSzyMUWHoS-qd-BpNf4lo7XzkMei-Wb6JYNY/s1600/IMG_0726.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRTZk3CWLOjdptI_ykdr2UlNQ0VCCqoWS1-ZG7jWRvNlVXuCoJMSUewsLHwcbF3ue3E4tRmNRyjZ7kk8opScnL-qSdVPC7ZOROPK653t_aSzyMUWHoS-qd-BpNf4lo7XzkMei-Wb6JYNY/s320/IMG_0726.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485211916978676322" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A view of the Dome of the Rock as seen from the ramparts on the north side of the Old City</span>. <span style="font-style: italic;">Notice how densely packed the houses and apartments are.</span><br /></div>After exiting the rampart just to the north of the Temple Mount, we made our way through the Muslim Quarter by way of the Via Dolorosa to just before the Damascus Gate. The reason was that we heard you could get some of the best falafel in the city there. The rumors we had heard proved to be right. The falafel was delicious and to top it off they had RC Cola! A falafel or shawarma and an RC Cola was a mere 12 shekels (about $3.50). We took our food and went through the Damascus Gate to just outside the Old City and sat on a low wall under a tree and had our lunch. The setting was beautiful and the food was falafeley good!<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd91sdluKgxNUKKry5hsVNXrauWEshUubKZxZl5VHYeQPotpiM9OGCVji-2JF0ke0xdW9b4nIlJrmoNLE0RQpE4jPHgsm4QnXMBoUxNwsRN8o0kiYTlq70S58z40cUW_FV8PSAPM5QKsw/s1600/IMG_0804.JPG"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd91sdluKgxNUKKry5hsVNXrauWEshUubKZxZl5VHYeQPotpiM9OGCVji-2JF0ke0xdW9b4nIlJrmoNLE0RQpE4jPHgsm4QnXMBoUxNwsRN8o0kiYTlq70S58z40cUW_FV8PSAPM5QKsw/s320/IMG_0804.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485212616748612770" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Me with my RC Cola and falafel. Notice the excitement on my face...<br /></span></div><br />After lunch, we mosied back into the Old City and made our way to the Jaffa Gate. Along the way, we did a little bit of shopping. We stopped at a shop in the Christian Quarter owned by a man named Shaban. We were introduced to him and his shops on our first tour of the Old City because he has very fair prices and gives us an excellent exchange rate at his money changing shop. When he saw our group walk up, he excused himself from the couple he was bargaining with. The reason he did this was that he wanted to give us something cool to drink. He got us a bottle of orange juice and some cups and then apologized that he couldn't pour it for us since he needed to get back to the couple he had been bargaining with. We were all stunned at the hospitality shown to us. Besides being hospitable, he was also being smart. We all commented that if he had anything we were interested in buying, we would purchase it from him instead of someone else. And I plan to continue only changing my money there.<br /><br />The rest of the day was significantly less exciting because I had to study for my test on Monday morning. All in all, it was one of the most restful and exciting Sundays I've ever had. I can't believe that I've only been here for a week and still have two weeks to go!<br /><br />As a quick side note, my professors, Dr. Richter and Dr. Stone, have been posting pictures and commentary of the trip on Facebook. You don't have to join Facebook to see them, so I encourage everyone to check them out <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19041&id=100000570435924">here</a>.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-22213169160364267872010-06-20T08:39:00.001-04:002010-06-20T08:40:45.340-04:00Israel Day 6: Jerusalem Approaches Field StudyHere's my impression report from our field study yesterday.<br /><br /> I had really been anticipating this field study because one of the places I most wanted to visit here was the Mount of Olives and the garden of Gethsemane. In my mind, I’ve always imagined it as a large, peaceful garden full of olive trees and other beautiful plants with no one around. Needless to say, I had rather high expectation. I was almost slightly annoyed that we were planning to visit another location first. It didn’t help that I was initially turned away from Dominus Flavit because I had left the zip on legs for my shorts in the bus. This was the first location I’d visited that was really picky on modesty rules. I was quite shocked when the guard at the gate actually waved me in after making me sit outside of the gate for a while. I was quite thankful that I was eventually let in, though. I’m glad I didn’t have to miss this location. It was actually quite peaceful.<br /><br /> I had trouble focusing on Dominus Flavit because I had been told that I would not be let onto the ground of the Church of All Nations, where the Garden of Gethsemane may have been located. I was quite thankful when I was allowed in with no problem. The garden was absolutely beautiful. I was in awe of seeing olive trees that may have been over 1,000 years old. It was one of the most amazing places I’ve ever been. What surprised me most was just how small it was. It was also fairly crowded. The highlight for me was actually going inside the Church of All Nations. It may have been a bit crowded, but it was so dark and peaceful that I didn’t care. The mosaics were amazing and really helped me to focus on just what Jesus went through for me. Visiting the garden and church are so far the highlights of the class for me.<br /><br /> The Herodium was definitely an experience. The climb up there was much easier than I expected, but it was still worse than I had hoped. The most interesting part for me was going through the tunnel that leads to the cistern. It was amazing to me just how much cooler that tunnel was. It makes sense given that you have these huge stone walls that can act as giant heat sinks, and it’s out of the sunlight so it doesn’t really get the opportunity to heat up. I did have to wonder just how much it’s been improved for us to walk through. The stairs seemed very modern to me, unlike Hezekiah’s tunnel which seemed to have been altered less. But, this tunnel was built much later than Hezekiah’s tunnel. I would still like to see photos of it before it when it was first discovered though.<br /><br /> Visiting the store that is a cooperative owned by families of artisans was a great experience for me. I have great respect for small businesses like that, and I was just stunned at the quality of the work done by the artisans. The carvings were simply amazing! I’ve always liked olive wood, but I didn’t know there could be such variety within one piece of olive wood. I also didn’t expect to see carvings that were so intricate and detailed. I’m not much of a shopper, but I thoroughly enjoyed my time there.<br /><br /> The visit to Bethlehem was not quite what I expected, although I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure what to expect. The visit to the Church of the Nativity was nothing like I’ve ever experienced. I’ll honestly say that I’ve never felt so unwelcome at a church. I know that they have to put up with a lot of tourist, but the atmosphere there was just very uncomfortable for me. It didn’t help that the guide from the tour group behind us was quite loud and disrespectful, and his group following suit didn’t improve matters either. I respect that the priests have a job to do and they had a short service to conduct, but it felt like they were very unhappy to have us present. Or to be more accurate, that the police there were unhappy to have us there. I can’t quite describe how it felt, but I didn’t enjoy my visit there. It felt very rushed and seemed as if they did not appreciate us wanting to worship and pray there. I expected it to be a rather celebratory experience and instead it seemed more like a funeral.<br /> <br />Going through the security checkpoint was definitely an experience. This was the second time that armed soldiers had boarded our bus, but this was the first time since entering the country that I was required to present my passport. I’m quite thankful that everyone on the bus had theirs and that we did not have to get off the bus. I’m starting to understand just how much tension there is in this place.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-84499201130288359172010-06-19T15:19:00.002-04:002010-06-19T15:26:39.914-04:00Israel Day 5: Benjamin Field StudyI know this is a day late, but I was just too tired yesterday to write anything. It was a long, hot day. But fun!<br /><br />The first thing that struck me today was just how quickly the topography can change. In the span of about 17 miles, we went from the hills of Jerusalem to the Wilderness, and then to the oasis of Jericho with the Dead Sea within sight. I had not expected for the terrain to change so dramatically so quickly.<br /><br />I also did not realize just how close everything is. Granted, modern roads make the distances fairly easy to traverse. Without them, many trips would take much longer because passing through a wadi is so difficult. But ignoring that, the distances are still pretty close. This was especially apparent to me in Beth-shemesh.<br /><br />One site I really enjoyed seeing today was all of the Bedouins out in the Wilderness. What I had expected to see were men in robes riding camels and living in big tents. Instead, I saw guys in jeans with cars, trucks, and SUVs. They had animals, but the pens were made of tin roofing material. I never did see a tent. It makes me curious to learn more about how Bedouins live in modern times.<br /><br />As Dr. Stone was talking about the life of Samson, I realized just how close many of the places mentioned in the story were. I could see the main places from where I sat at Beth-shemesh. I had not expected that at all. This just reinforces how close many places are. At the same time, I understand why places that are close together “as the crow flies” are still very far apart for all practical purposes.<br /><br />Something else that really struck me was just how strong the tensions are here between various people groups. The most apparent one to me was the Israeli-Palestinian tension. I really noticed this in Jericho. In Jerusalem, most signs are in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. In Jericho, everything was in Arabic and English with no Hebrew present. I see this contrasted with the Jewish Quarter of the Old City where signs are primarily in Hebrew and usually English. I was also surprised at how easy it is to tell if a community is primarily Muslim. All you have to do is look for a minaret. I had not appreciated all of these subtle differences before coming here. Part of me just wants to scream, “Can’t we all just get along?!”<br /><br />A happy surprise for me was seeing the archaeological site at Gezer. The reason for this is that I’ve never really found archaeology all that interesting. I know I’ve mentioned it before in other impression reports, but I’m still amazed at how interesting I’m finding the archaeological aspect of this trip. A major highlight for me was when Dr. Richter walked over to show us a handle to a vessel she had found. After looking at it for a minute or two, she gave was able to tell us what period it was from and what it was probably used for. She then commented on all of the pottery shards we were walking on. I hadn’t even noticed them! I did not expect to just look around and see pieces of pottery that were thousands of years old. I was also stunned at how much can be learned from studying things like the remains of a gate. It didn’t look like much to me, yet people were able to learn a lot from those remains. It makes me want to take a class in archaeology!<br /><br />A major cultural experience for me today was the beginning of Shabbat. I’ve had Jewish friends in the past, but I never realized just how important Shabbat is, especially here. As we were coming back from our Benjamin field study, I noticed that the area around JUC was fairly busy with lots of people and cars moving back and forth through the city. By the time we hit sundown, things had changed drastically. The streets were quieter, there were fewer people moving about, and most importantly, there was no loud music. Every night until now, there was been loud music being played from a venue located somewhere below the school. On Thursday night, it was most definitely live music that was sometimes good and sometimes very bad bordering on painful to listen too. Tonight, there has been none of that. It’s actually been quite peaceful. It’s like a totally different world.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-21833849999996778912010-06-17T13:59:00.003-04:002010-06-17T14:00:38.720-04:00Israel Day 4: New Testament WalkBelow is the impression report I wrote for today's events. I'm sorry I didn't include any pictures, but I just don't feel like uploading them on such a slow connection tonight.<br /><br /> One of the things I most looked forward to when I was getting ready to come to Israel was visiting the Temple Mount. I knew that we would not be allowed to go inside either the Al-Aqsa Mosque or the Dome of the Rock, but I was still pretty excited to see the Dome of the Rock up close. I also could not quite grasp the size of the size of the Temple Mount. I was not prepared for just how big and open it really is.<br /><br /> I was particularly impressed at how beautiful and peaceful it was. Seeing all of the soldiers and police near the entrance was not unexpected, but it still surprised me a little bit. Their presence, however, did not distract from the beauty and serenity of the place. I was thankful that we were one of the first groups in and that the other groups did not really start showing up until after we had finished up in the main areas. This meant that we could enjoy all of the trees and plants in relative peace. Another surprise for me was just how small both the Mosque and the Dome of the Rock are. I expected them to be much larger. I’m not sure why, but in my mind they are huge buildings that can each hold tens of thousands of people. I also did not went realize that they entire plaza area (I’m not sure if that’s the right term) is used on major holidays like Ramadan for a great many to come pray and worship. This should have been common sense, but it was not.<br /><br /> Another even that really impressed me was seeing all of the Bar Mitzvahs taking place at the Western Wall. It had not occurred to me that they would take place there, but it really makes perfect sense. It was amazing to watch how excited the fathers and other men were for the boys, and just how much went into the celebration and ceremony. It was interesting to watch the men then all process over to the dividing wall between the men’s and women’s section to present the young man to his mother and other women. I particularly enjoyed all of the singing and celebration that went into their procession over to the women. I had never been exposed to a Bart Mitzvah before, so it was just fantastic to see what an event it is in the life of a young Jewish man.<br /><br /> The biggest happy surprise for me was found in visiting the Southern Archaeological Park. I’ve never really been in to Archaeology and I was not excited about this part of the NT Walk. I typically just don’t find a bunch of old rocks and ruins all that interesting. This, however, was not the case once we got there. I had not expected to be able to climb on the ruins and to investigate them on my own. Climbing into a ritual bath was fun because I had not realized how small they really were. I also had not expected to climb on stones that may well have been part of the Herodian Temple. Sitting on the Southern Steps where people from the Bible, including Jesus, may have walked, studied, and taught, was totally unexpected and far more moving than I would have imagined.<br /> <br /> The biggest highlight for me came when some of us were looking at the stones in the wall and Dr. Richter walked up and discovered an inscription that appeared to be in Aramaic. It was faded enough that she couldn’t read all of it for us, but it was still pretty cool. I even found it a little bit amusing when she described it as “graffiti.” It had not occurred to me that there could be ancient graffiti scrawled into the walls of the Old City. I guess people really are all alike regardless of what century they lived in.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807971552856201155.post-8867842908476054082010-06-17T13:00:00.003-04:002010-06-17T13:24:22.418-04:00The Lights Festival and Bar MitzvahsThe night we came into Jerusalem, we saw all kinds of lights around the wall of the Old City, and lots of music and people and a generally festive atmosphere. When I asked what was going on, Dr. Wrights replied that it was one of the last days of the Lights Festival (not to be confused with the Festival of Lights). He said that it's something that they tried last year that was so popular that they decided to do it again this year. Basically, they just lit up the Old City inside and out and people came to walk through. I really wanted to go to it before it ended, but was too tired until last night.<br />After supper last night, several of us went down to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to explore and see the main highlights after most people had left. Then we went back up to Jaffa gate, and Mark and Taylor headed back to JUC. Christy and I decided to stay and wander around the Lights Festival. There were a few street performers with light up costumes outside the city walls, but it was inside where the magic was happening. We The city was divided up into several routes, and we picked the orange one because it cut through the Armenian Quarter and then meandered into the Jewish Quarter where it looped around. The Jewish Quarter is the one we were the most comfortable with, plus we knew that there were searchlights set up on the Mount of Olives that we really wanted to see.<br />It was awesome! The atmosphere was quite festive. It was wall to wall people and many of the food vendors and little restaurants were open. If it weren't for the fact that I was still full from supper, I would have gone nuts with the food. It all smelled so amazing.<br />One of my favorite things was a building with lots of arches that had animations projected onto it. The animations made it look like the bricks were moving, the walls were crumbling, and that little green smiley face ghost looking things were zipping about the inside. It was a very entertaining 4 minutes.<br />Then we got to a terrace that overlooks the Mount of Olives, the Western (Wailing) Wall, and the Temple Mount. The searchlights on the Mount of Olives were all synchronized and made all kinds of cool patterns in the sky. Sometimes the even changed to different colors. It was awesome! Finally it was time for us to make our way back to the Zion Gate so we could head back to school. It was like swimming up stream trying to get past all of the people. It was quite an experience.<br />The whole time we were walking through, I kept trying to figure out just why they had started doing the Lights Festival. My theory is that they're making up for the fact that they don't have Christmas and Christmas Lights. When I mentioned this to Dr. Richter, she just laughed, but I think it has merit.<br /><br />Today, we visited the Western Wall and it was a very busy place. When we were there a couple of days ago, it was much more subdued, so we were all curious about what was going on. There were drums, shofars, flutes, clarinets, and I'm pretty sure I also heard bagpipes. It turns out that Tuesday-Thursday are the big days for Bar Mitzvahs, and it's pretty common for them to take place at the Western Wall. We got to spend some time watching, photographing, and videotaping the events. When I went down to the wall, there were multiple groups of men and boys with big scrolls that were participating in the Bar Mitzvahs. You could see moms, aunts, grandmothers, sisters, and other women hanging of the women's side watching the events and cheering on the boys. It was an fantastic! If I ever get a faster internet connection here, I'll upload some video clips of it.<br />That's all of the major excite for the past few days. I'll probably post another impression report in a few minutes.dolphinjonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11021013372383334358noreply@blogger.com0